Sianne's Story
by Dannichu
Summary: But what happens when a simple accident leads to something catastrophic? Where do you turn when you’ve done something beyond forgiveness?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: As you may guess from the title, this is basically a story I made in my head but have never written down until now and I thought it might be interesting. It's about how Sianne became as mad as she is. You'll probably need to read AOTCS to understand this better. Keep in mind that this is not intended to be a humor fic, so don't yell at me for the lack of funniness.

This will be a series, and a pretty long one at that. And no, I'm not giving up on AOTCS.

Dedication: To Zizzo, the eternally hyper one, and Tony Dark for all your nice reviews, I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Yes. Here I am, making millions from this pointless story and I claim to own Pokémon. Yes, Nintendo, come and sue me! Fwa ha ha.

Sianne's Story

By Dannichu

Chapter 1 - In which we have vague character introduction and lots of shameless exposition

After an extremely long day of traveling I sat down exhausted under a large oak tree. I then took my tent out of my tattered rucksack and attempted to set it up, though it proved rather difficult due to my seated position. I stood up wearily and managed to get all the poles in the right places without ripping the thin fabric, which I couldn't help but feel proud at. My tent had been ripped (and consequently patched up) so many times that I doubted there was actually any of the original tent left. It looked pretty cool though. Like a patchwork quilt, but a tent. That done, I took my little propane stove, a saucepan, a can opener and a small tin of vegetables out of my bag as well. After a couple of failed attempts to open the can with my dominant (and left) hand using the can opener that I had foolishly bought without checking it was suitable for left handed people, I finally managed to open the blasted can and get them heating in the saucepan. I left them bubbling away happily and went to my bag again. I took three Pokéballs and one Premier Ball from it and threw them in the air. Bursting forth from them in four flashes of white light came Sarah, Luke, Terra and Russell. Sarah instinctively came over to me where the food was and looked into the saucepan. She saw the vegetables simmering and wrinkled her nose. "More veggies?" she asked in her Marshtomp language that I had only just grown to understand.

"Yup. Besides, I can't really afford anything more than canned veg, you know that. And I can't really afford that."

"I guess... but don't you have anything else?" she moaned.

"Nope, sorry. Well, I have another can of vegetables..." I said, half-smiling. Sarah sighed and gazed at the bubbling carrots and sweetcorn.

I was, in case you hadn't already gathered, a Pokémon trainer. By all means I wasn't the best, but I elt good because I was one of the few trainers who put their Pokémon's feelings before personal glory. For example, I would rather forfeit a match than see one of them get badly hurt. Even if it did disgrace me. Of course, I was never all that bothered about other people's opinions. I was fifteen and had four Pokémon partners in the Hoenn region. I was (and, last time I checked, still am) a girl, but I've never been a girly-girl. I also wasn't, with any stretch of the imagination, particularly pretty, but this was probably because making myself look good came last on my agenda of doing stuff. Of course, the whole 'looks' thing wasn't helped by the fact I was normally wearing the same clothes for about a week (and I had just two pairs anyway), was normally dirty and generally looked like something the Delcatty dragged in. And the scar down my face, but that was normally concealed by grime or whatever. I was one of those people who really didn't care if they waded through a mud pool as long as they had fun doing it.

Despite having just four Pokémon and a meager six Hoenn badges, I was far from being a novice trainer. I had grown up in Mintale Town and, after my parents had been killed, had befriended a Pikachu that my parents had left me. Which, as you can imagine was fun. Sure I missed mom and dad, but I didn't know them all that well and... well... envisage yourself in a house with nobody to tell you when to go to bed or wake up, nobody to dictate to you what you're going to do, nobody to tell you off for making your room a total tip. And you never had to worry about being alone because you had your best friend in the world at your side at all times. No, it was more fun than that.

When I was a little older I had to attend the local school. I had been planning to skip school altogether until I was old enough to become a trainer, but the League (the equivalent to the government) were already angry at me for being unable to be taken into care due to a loophole in the law, and I didn't want to leave my house and especially my Pika-pal. At school where we were taught many different subjects; the boring ones like math and languages, and more exciting ones including Training Techniques and Pokémon Care and Management.

I dropped out of school at the earliest opportunity and began Pokémon training at the age of nine. When I got my license, I had to lie a little about my age, parents and house, but they believed me, probably due to a mixture of the hoards of kids wanting to get their licenses and because I would have raised the ruckus to end all ruckuses if they hadn't let me. I began my journey with the Pikachu and journeyed around the Kanto region, later visiting Johto with him and my Chikorita, Genesis, then I took my good friend Nwacha the Umbreon and his brother to Oore, where we came across the darker side of the Pokémon World. Then I wanted to take my best friends to the newly-found Hoenn, but discovered with anguish that I couldn't bring my other partners to the new country! So I began over with a Mudkip, which hatched from an egg that a strange old man gave me for no apparent reason. After that I had caught a couple more Pokémon and got a fair few badges, but I just enjoyed the experiences of traveling with my Pokémon, my friends, and seeing new places with them. That, for me, was happiness.

I looked around to see Luke the Zangoose leaning on the other side of the tree, looking up at the clouds and Terra perched on the lower branches. Russell had darted off somewhere, though I suspected he'd come back with some kind of item. As the Linoone he was, it was instinctive for him to find things. It was a blessing really; if he didn't bring back Nuggets, King's Rocks and Proteins for us to sell, we would probably have to resort to begging. It was all down to that stupid rule that when you lose a trainer battle you have to give them half your money. After losing to one arrogant kid who I swear was no way ten years old, he found it hilarious to steal all my money, leaving me with nothing. Since then, about two months or so ago, we had been struggling desperately to find enough money to buy food. We hadn't won a match in weeks because my Pokémon had been too distracted by their hunger to concentrate properly and we lost every time, leaving us with half of what little money we had before.

"Oh cheer up Sarah," Terra said from her perch in the oak tree, "vegetables are good for you!"

"Easy for you to say; you like them" moaned Sarah, "Why can't we get something nice like pasta or chicken?"

"Chicken? No way; unless you want to prepare it yourself. There's no way I'm going near any raw bird flesh." I said instantly.

"Me neither" agreed Luke, suddenly joining in the conversation. "I thought you were a vegetarian anyway."

"I am... sort of." Sarah moaned. Sarah was good at moaning. She was also a great friend and loyal Pokémon. She was named after my best human friend, who was still traveling around Johto. We kept in touch via email, but it just wasn't the same. Then, after I got to know my Mudkip, and later Marshtomp, better, I had found another great friend.

Luke was a great Pokémon too, though completely out of character for the Zangoose he is. Extremely patient and gentle, Luke was one of the calmest Pokémon I knew and went very much against the stereotyping of Zangoose to be "vicious, bloodthirsty monsters". He was also extremely sensitive about people staring at him due to him having just one eye. His other eye was taken out by his mother, who misjudged a Slash attack against a Seviper when he was little. Apparently, he nearly died through blood loss and his mother abandoned him. I caught him after the wound had healed, but it was slightly infected (mercifully not as bad as it would have been, due to his immunity) and he was very weak, so he had to have stitches put it to repair the wound properly. It left him with an extremely long scar going across his face and where his eye would be sewn shut.

Terra was a funny story. I remember catching her for no reason other than wanting to get to the nearest Pokémon center quickly and her Arena Trap ability was stopping me from recalling Sarah. In the end I just threw a Premier Ball which caught her. Of course, training a Trapinch is a very strenuous process due to their complete lack of speed. After she evolved into a Vibrava her speed became amazingly fast and she outstripped even Russell in speed and agility. After Russell brought home a blue piece of material on his hunt for 'stuff', she took it and managed to use the scrap to make a sweatband. It suits her both in terms of appearance and personality. Her nickname, Terra, was extremely ironic. Latin for earth, I thought it was fitting for a Ground-type such as Trapinch. But ever since she evolved, she never spent time on the ground at all. She has a completely free spirit and loved flying. She always used to moan about how she wanted to hurry up and evolve so she could be wings and "get out of this stupid body". She should really have been a Bagon.

Russell was the first Pokémon I caught in the Hoenn region and he's a great battler, though his favorite pastime is dashing around and digging for things that may be buried or lost. My Pokémon, though I have others. On my journeys through Kanto and Johto I accumulated a collection of Pokémon friends though they were not allowed to be brought into Hoenn due to safety restrictions. The only Kanto and Johto Pokémon in Hoenn are in the Safari Zone and kept under constant check. And the random Oddish and Tentacool of course, but you can find them everywhere.

I began thinking about the Safari Zone and began wondering how far it was... I left Fortree not long ago, but we had walked a lot that day, keeping in the tall grass in order to stay away from passing trainers who might have challenged me.

I took out my PokéNav and pressed the buttons until a map of Hoenn came into focus on the little screen. According to it I was between half a day and a day's walk from the Safari Zone, less if I took the way that was likely to be crawling with trainers itching to battle, though there was no way I was going to go down that route. I had read about the Pokémon in the Safari Zone and the ones they had decided to import were good choices, though there were only two I was interested in; Natu and Pikachu. I really wanted a Pikachu; though they were very popular I still loved them. Perhaps because Pikachu was my first Pokémon ever; Sparky. I could never, ever have beaten the Kanto league without his help. He was always there and willing to battle, yet he was shy and quiet at the same time. I still have no idea why I was not allowed to bring him to Hoenn, especially since there were already Pikachu there... I complained bitterly to the people who stopped me taking some of my best friends and partners into the newly discovered country. They said it was only for a "short period of time" so I just hoped I would be able to transport them across to Hoenn soon. Hopefully.

"Danni?" Sarah's voice snapped me out of my contemplative thinking.

"Yeah?" I asked, not looking up from the PokéNav.

"The veggies are boiling over."

"What? Oh why didn't you tell me sooner? Now they'll be all soggy!" I shoved the electronic device in my pocket and rushed to turn the gas cooker off and save our dinner but in my haste I grabbed one of the metal prongs that was glowing white-hot and heating the food. I screamed.

"AAARRRGGGGHHH!" I screeched, probably disturbing every person and Pokémon in a fifty-mile radius, clutching my blistering hand tightly.

What is it?" Sarah snapped her head around and saw my poor hand. She automatically used Water Gun on it to cool it down. It cooled down a little, but the searing pain of it made me almost pass out. Terra darted down from the tree and Luke came over to see what was the matter. Russell came rushing out of a nearby bush, a forgotten Great Ball in his mouth.

"How did you manage that?" asked Terra, concerned.

"I... Arghh!" I said incoherently through clenched teeth.

"I think she grabbed the metal thing on top of the cooker," Sarah said, stopping her Water Gun for a second so she could talk. "It looks really bad though."

"There's - Agh! -a... Burn Heal... in - Argh! - my bag!" I said in agony, clutching my wrist so tightly it would probably hurt if there were not something a million times worse hurting at the same time.

Russell dashed over to my rucksack and opened the items pocket. He stuck his nose in and looked around for a second or two before dashing back over with a toothpaste tube-like object in his mouth. Sarah took it and opened it with her fin-hands. She squirted it all over the burned area of my hand.

"Ahhh..." I sighed, feeling the nerves cool down immediately. I decided that whoever made Pokémon items work on people should be made ruler of the universe.

"You'd better have some of these, too." Russell said, taking a small amount of Rawst Berries from my bag's berry pocket.

"No," I said, shaking my had slightly to get rid of the tingling sensation of my nerve system cooling down rapidly, "They're for you and that's all the burn-heal items we have. What if one of you gets burned?"

"We have a Full Heal in here, as well as a bunch of other Berries." Sarah pointed out. "Come on, just eat them already!"

"Oh, okay..."

Dinner was... interesting that night; overcooked vegetables and Rawst Berries. Yum.

After Sarah and I had washed the dishes, we decided to just get some sleep, especially since it was getting dark earlier as autumn and then winter was fast approaching. I took out my sleeping bag and lay it on the floor of the tent. I recalled Luke, Terra and Sarah into their respective balls while Russell curled up by the foot of my sleeping bag and fell asleep. I yawned and smiled at Russell's snoozing form. Then I changed into my Wingull-patterned pajamas, climbed into my sleeping bag, careful not to wake him, and fell into a deep sleep.

--------------

A/N: That's RIGHT! It's NOT a 33-million-page chapter like the AOTCS ones! Anyway, keep an eye out for more soon and until then, please review. It makes me feel ever so loved.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: New chapter! Whee! Sorry about the nicknames, there are only (as I've planned out so far) six Pokémon with nicknames that feature the entire fic so it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully. Oh yeah – Danni's parents were killed by a Rhydon when she was about five. I didn't put it in since it's not really relevant. I doubt it'll make another appearance. Sound odd? It was originally going to be a rabid Wigglytuff O.O

Dedication: To Lunar Sphinx for making me feel so loved :)

Disclaimer: My ownership of Pokémon is about as real as the weapons of mass destruction. ::glares at Bush::

---------------

Sianne's Story

By Dannichu

Chapter 2 – In which we have a random battle for no reason, a little more character development and them actually getting to Lilycove. And lots more self-pity on Danni's part.

---

I was woken by Russell the following morning, I felt him stretching and sitting on my feet. I rubbed my eyes and poked my head to look outside the tent in order to see what kind of day it was so I could dress accordingly. It was sunny, so t-shirt and jeans it was. I sent Russell outside while I changed, then washed at a nearby river. Then I packed away the tent before releasing my Pokémon once again so they could walk alongside me. While almost all trainers keep their Pokémon inside their Pokéballs all the time, I don't believe in it. Being a claustrophobic person myself, I could think of no worse punishment than to be confined in a space the size of a tennis ball all day so I was not willing to inflict it upon my Pokémon. I only recalled them when it was time for bed (and even then it was only because we wouldn't all fit in my one-man tent) or when they were tired out. Another great reason for keeping them out all the time was that it made them more physically fit. It always gave us an edge in battle since if you walk about ten miles on a daily basis it will obviously show when you battle against opponents that are cooped up all day and don't walk anywhere. And, of course, it was great to have them to chat to whilst walking along the long roads to the next gym or place we wanted to visit.

I was in a great mood, it was a lovely day and I was walking along a beautiful trainer-free road with my friends and I was going to the Safari Zone, where I was sure to make a new friend.

"Quick! Hide!" shouted Terra from the air, "There's a trainer coming!"

"Ack!" I half-yelled, half-whispered, "get behind a tree or something!"

So Luke, Sarah and I ran and hid behind a bush. A very prickly bush at that. Terra flew up into a tree and Russell was already off somewhere, probably digging for more items.  
Peeking through the branches of the bush, I could make out a man walking past; he was probably in his late fifties, was holding a walking stick and looked very respectable. He wasn't the kind of person you would expect to be a trainer, and I would not have thought he was myself, were he not walking with a Manectric beside him.

"Ow..." I heard Sarah moan in my ear.

"What? I whispered, not taking my eyes off the trainer.

"I think I'm sitting on something pointy..." Sarah whispered back.

"Wurm?" came a voice from underneath Sarah.

"AAARRRGGHHH!" Sarah screamed, leaping up suddenly, scaring me, Luke and the Wurmple she had been sitting on out of our minds.

"Are you okay Sarah?" Luke asked, forgetting that we were supposed to be hiding and going over to Sarah.

"Yeah... It just made me jump... that's all..." she said between breaths.

I stood up and went over to Sarah. "You sure?" I asked, "You didn't sit on its poisonous spikes or anything did you?"

"No... just its back...but it made me jump so much..."

"You there!" said the man, pointing his stick directly at me. "Would those Pokémon happen to belong to you?"

"Um... yes." I said, bowing my head slightly. Great, just what I needed. Yet another battle.

"Would you care to battle me?" he asked, eyeing Sarah, who was still panting heavily after being made jump so suddenly. '_No wonder he's challenging you'_ I thought to myself, '_He just saw one of your Pokémon get scared by a Wurmple.'_

"Um, okay," I said resentfully, cursing the stupid 'trainer's etiquette' that made it rude to refuse a battle. I could still reduce the number of my Pokémon that got hurt, though. "Is one-on-one okay?"

"Ladies first," he said, indicating that I should send out one of my Pokémon first. My first thought was that I should send out Sarah or Terra if he had a Manectric, but then the logical side of my brain told me that he would obviously have more than one Pokémon. And since my Pokémon were already pretty weak, I couldn't afford to have their weaknesses picked on.  
"Russell, go!" I shouted.

The man stared at me. I hadn't thrown a Pokéball and the two Pokémon beside me were also just staring. Terra was sitting in a tree making head-slicing motions at me.

I was such an idiot.

Russell was still off hunting for stuff. I blushed deeply with embarrassment and then decided.  
"Luke, go!"

Luke sprang into action, leaping forward out of the holly bush and onto the wide path that was to serve as our battlefield.

"A Zangoose? Interesting. Odd you should want to capture on with just on eye." The man said. I felt furious, and I saw Luke twinge with embarrassment.

Go, Golduck!" he threw an Ultra Ball and a Golduck burst forth from it in a green flash.

'_A Golduck? This man must have been to the Safari Zone' _I thought.

"Luke, Swords Dance!" I shouted, Luke began dancing; chafing his claws together in order to sharpen them up, meaning that the next hits would be extra-powerful.

"Golduck, Confusion!" the man said calmly. His Golduck's eyes began glowing an odd purplish color and suddenly a bean of intense psychic power burst from the Pokémon' core in the center of its forehead.

"Dodge it!" I yelled to Luke, but it was too late. The beam hit him in the chest area and he fell to the ground. "Luke!" I screamed.

Luke managed to get back to his feet, weakened greatly from the attack, but not ready to give up.

"You okay?" I asked. He nodded. "Good, now try Slash!"

Luke leaped over to the Golduck with all the agility and grace of a cat before slashing at the duck Pokémon with his newly-sharpened claws.

"Duck!" shrieked the Golduck, letting Luke and I know that he had scored a critical hit. "Now, try Aerial Ace!"

"Screech." said the man, still displaying a calm face, but his voice sounded worried.

Luke leaped into the air and was about to perform the ultra-fast attack he had newly learned after using the TM given to me by Winona, but the duck Pokémon began screeching at the top of its voice, making Luke lose his concentration and wince with the pain the high-pitched noise was causing.

'_Drat' _I thought. '_there goes Luke's already low defense. I've got to end this before it can hit me again.'_

"Aerial Ace one more time!" I shouted. Luke leaped into the air, and then began spinning before he finally made contact. Luke's claws slammed into Golduck from above, sending it sprawling to the dusty ground.

"Yes!" I shouted happily. This would be our first win in weeks!

"Duck." The Water-type declared, getting back on its feet. I felt embarrassed again at my premature victory dance. But even if the Golduck had gotten up, it was only a matter of time before it was knocked down for good.

"Luke, just one more hit with Slash!"

"Jump and then Water Gun, Golduck."

Luke began running over to the blue duck Pokémon with his claws fully extended, the sunlight glinting off them, when the Golduck suddenly leaped into the air. Luke halted suddenly and looked up. He saw the Golduck come falling back down to the ground, and he prepared the Slash it when it did. But he never got the chance.

"Duuuuck!" The Golduck sent a jet of foamy water at Luke, hitting him directly in the stomach, winding him and sending him flying backwards and into a tree. The Golduck landed gracefully on the ground.

"Luke!" I screamed. I ran over to him and checked to see if he was all right. He was hurt and unconscious, but there were no lasting injuries. I sighed, half with relief, half with regret.

"Looks like I won." said the man, recalling his Golduck. At this point it was customary for the loser to give the victor their winnings. I took my bag off my shoulders and reached inside it for my purse. I opened it and took out all the money inside. I had about 200 credits. Not enough for one measly Pokéball. I handed the man 100 credits. He looked at it questioningly and then continued walking, muttering something about trainers "not being like they used to be".

"Well he was an idiot." came Sarah's voice behind me, voicing my thoughts. "He should have chosen first as well. Remember? Whoever makes the challenge should send out their Pokémon first. "

"I am so stupid." I muttered, staring at Luke's lifeless form, before recalling him into a Pokéball. "I shouldn't have lost that. If I have been playing proper attention, I could have made Luke dodge that Confusion attack in time."

"I doubt that." Terra said in her fast voice, "the same thing that was slowing you down would have been slowing Luke down."

"What might that be?" I asked.

"Hunger. We're all starving, and we have been for ages. A tin of carrots between five of us is not enough to keep any of us in a fit shape for battle."

I knew she was right. I sadly extended my arm, motioning for her to come and rest on my shoulder, which she did. "I'm really sorry. I'm a bad trainer." I said, trying to hold back tears, "I shouldn't have accepted that battle, etiquette or not. And I definitely shouldn't have sent out Luke. He hates battling. I was too busy concentrating on the stupid battle to think about his feelings."

"That's not true." Terra told me sharply, "When you accepted that battle, you were thinking about how, if we could win, we might be able to get some money for food, not about personal glory. We all know that."

"Yeah." Sarah agreed, "and even if it was for personal glory, you sure ruined that by attempting to send out a Pokémon that wasn't there." We all laughed. It had been a long time since we had all laughed, what with the stress of lack of food and avoiding trainers. We then continued walking along the beautiful yet uncharted route toward Lilycove and the Safari Zone.

It had fields of tall grass and flowers to one side of the overgrown path and on the other side was a tall, green wood, which had that 'pine fresh' smell to it. And since it was such a beautiful late summer morning, walking along a road in the sunshine while talking to your friends was pure happiness, starving or not.

"It sure is nice along here." Sarah commented, looking over at a field full of beautiful flowers, with some Beautifly drinking nectar from them happily. On a large rock in the field, two Poochyena were lying peacefully, lazily gazing at us walking past.

"It is." I said, mesmerized by how peaceful it was, "I'd love to live around here."

"I don't see any houses though." Terra said from up in the air.

"Yeah, they'd probably spoil the view." I said, nodding.

"I don't think so. One right over there would look wonderful! A nice big one."  
"Think so?" I asked, looking over at the field to which Terra was indicating.

"Look! Up ahead!" the Vibrava shouted suddenly, flying above our heads with the speed of a Ninjask.

"What?" Sarah shouted, running as fast as she could... which wasn't very fast.

"Oh, wow!" I shouted. We were on top of a large hill, and looking down we could see the bustling metropolis that was Lilycove City.

"Cool..." Sarah said, looking down at all the buildings. "This is bigger than Slateport and Rustboro combined!"

"Hey, look!" Terra said, pointing with her little arms at a patch of green in the distance, "There's the Safari Zone!"

"Let's get going then!" Sarah said happily, and began making her way down the steep hill.

"Wait!" I shouted to her, "we'd better wait for Russell first!"

"Oh, okay." Sarah and I began calling for him, and Terra took to flying above the trees looking for him.

"Russell! Russell!" Sarah shouted into the wood. "Where IS he?" she complained. "Why can't he keep to the road like the rest of us? What if he got into a battle with a big Pokémon like Lairon and got knocked out or something? What if-"  
"Sarah, calm down!" I said, because what the easily-worried Marshtomp was saying was really making me panic. "Russell will be fine."  
"Guys!" we turned and saw Terra flying over to use with Russell running along the ground.

"Sorry," Russell said apologetically, "Terra told me about the battle and stuff; it must have been really embarrassing."

"That's okay," I said, scratching him behind his ears, causing him to close his eyes in ecstasy, "did you find anything?"

"Um, I found two Super Potions, but one of them was really, really old, nearly decaying, so I left it." Russell said, dropping an orange-colored spray bottle at my knees.

"Hey, Russell, look over there!" Sarah said, standing at the top of the hill. Russell darted over to where the Marshtomp was standing.

"Wow..." Russell breathed, "That's amazing! Is that where we're going?"  
"Yup, that's Lilycove." I said, "and the Safari Zone is just over there!"

"Let's go!" said Sarah, looking very hyper. So Terra, Russell and I followed her down the hill and into bustling Lilycove.

"Wait, Sarah!" I shouted over the crowd of people. One person in the crowd, who I assumed was also called Sarah, turned their head and looked at me. I just ran over to where Sarah was looking in a shop window, grabbed her by the wrist and dashed with her into the Pokémon Center.

"Why're we here?" she asked, looking around.

"Because Luke needs some rest," I said, "and because you might be able to get a meal here."

"Oh, okay." Sarah said, before turning to Terra and Russell. "Hear that? We might be getting something to eat!"

"That's a relief." Russell said, "I'm starving."

"Me too." Sarah agreed.

"Okay guys," I said, walking over to them, "I need you to go in your Pokéballs. I'll then get Nurse Joy to give you a checkup and she might, note the 'might', give you some food. Okay?"  
"Great!" said Terra happily. I recalled her into her Premier Ball and the others into their Pokéballs and handed them over to the nurse's Chansey. While I was waiting for them to be healed, I just sat in the waiting room reading a well out-of-date trainer's manual for tips. It had nothing in that I didn't know already. I knew about type match-ups, items, eggs, evolution... I knew what being a good trainer took, but the book didn't have anything about training Pokémon that were so hungry you could swear your Marshtomp was looking at you as if you were a pizza.  
Even though it was only about four in the afternoon, I felt a wave of drowsiness creep over me. It was probably a mixture of hunger and exhaustion and I just fell asleep in the chair in the Pokémon Center waiting room.

I woke up to find Sarah and Luke sleeping in the chairs either side of me, Russell curled up sleeping on my lap and Terra snoozing on my head. I opened my eyes and looked around for a clock to see how long I had been asleep for. I looked around so sharply I woke up Terra very suddenly, making her jump.

"Danni! Don't do that!" she whispered, so as not to wake up the others.

"Sorry," I whispered back apologetically, "how long have you been here? Did you get something to eat?"

"Yeah, we got something to eat - it was this delicious Pokémon food and it was the nicest thing I've ever tasted and after we'd eaten and stuff and Luke had gotten healed Nurse Joy was going to recall us but Sarah said that you would prefer it if we were left out for the night so we came out and found you sleeping." she said quickly. "You must have been really tired."

"I was." I said, stroking the back of her head, "I nearly-"

Before I could finish, I was startled by Sarah turning in her sleep and falling off the chair.

"Ow!" she moaned.

"Shh!" Terra and I said simultaneously.

"Oh, sorry." Sarah whispered. "What time is it?"

"I don't know," I said, "there isn't a clock here. But seeing the sun coming through the windows over there, I would say it was time to get up, okay?"

"Sure." Sarah agreed, "Should I wake up Luke and Russell?"

"Russell will have to wake up when I get up anyway," I said, indicating to him curled up on my lap, "but Luke can carry on sleeping for a bit. He's still probably tired and achy from yesterday."

"That's a good idea," Terra agreed, nodding while sitting on my head, "are there some public sinks or washbasins here do you think?"  
"Let's find out." I said, waking up Russell.

--------------

A/N: Chapter 2 done! Hmm... In chapter 3 we just might have Sianne actually feature! ...Or maybe not. I've not gotten that far yet. But don't you just LOVE the disclaimer? Sorry if I offended anyone with it, but it's my favorite one I've ever done.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Whee! Chapter three already! How much do I rule?

**Dedication:** To Sarah and Zizzo for my early prezzie! I love you guys so much!!! ...And to Gen and Fleecy for scarring my mind forever. You know what I mean.

**Disclaimer:** I actually own Pokémon!

...Pokémon FireRed, that is.

---------------

**Sianne's Story**

By Dannichu

Chapter 3 – In which there is another battle (but a good one!), this one about five pages long, and then the actual getting to the Safari Zone! Dun, dun DUUUUN!

About twenty minutes later, Sarah, Terra, Russell and I were all washed and I had found enough money to buy a little breakfast for us all from the Pokémon Center cafeteria. I bought two pots of yogurt and then put it into five bowls. We ate quickly and then took the remaining bowl over to where Luke was still sleeping.

"Hey Luke, wake up." I said shaking him slightly.

"Wha?" Luke mumbled in a state of semi-consciousness.

"How're you feeling?" I asked anxiously, "You must still be exhausted after that battle yesterday. I'm sorry for making you battle like that, especially when you were so tired."

"That's okay." Luke said, looking over at Sarah, who was carrying the small bowl of yogurt.

"Here, we brought you some breakfast." Sarah grinned, handing him the bowl and a spoon.

After Luke had eaten his breakfast and washed himself we set off for the Safari Zone, which was less than a quarter of a mile away. It was a wonderful day; sunny but not overly hot, breezy but not windy and not a cloud marred the clear blue sky.

It was a lovely walk as well, full of trees and grass. We were challenged only by a wild Electrike and I would to have loved to capture it, but I had sold my last Pokéball as well as the Super Potion Russell had found the previous day to pay for our breakfast. Since I had no real desire to battle a Pokémon that could easily paralyze any of my friends, I refused and ran past it, hoping it could battle another trainer that passed.

Soon enough, we could make out a building in the distance, one with a tall fence going around a huge reserve behind it. Upon seeing it, I broke into a run, unable to wait any longer to catch a new Pokémon. Then suddenly, my heart sank like a lead balloon.

How could I have been so stupid? Getting into the Safari Zone was not free! It didn't cost a lot to join in a Safari hunt, but all I had were 36 measly Credits. I dropped to my knees with anguish. I had been looking forward to this day for _months_, and now my dreams of capturing a Pikachu had been shattered like a piece of glass under a Groudon.

"Danni?" Terra shouted, flying to catch up with me after my run. "What is it?"

"I-I just remembered something." I whispered, fighting back tears.

"What?"  
"You have to pay to get into the Safari Zone."

"Oh..." Terra looked devastated. "Yes, I remember now. Oh, Danni..."

"What is it?" Sarah and Luke shouted to me, both running. Russell had once again gone off finding things. Vibrava flew over to them and told them what I had just said. Their faces fell.

"What can we do now?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know..." I whimpered, still reeling from the pain of disappointment.

"I have an idea," Sarah said, "if we found a trainer, you could battle them, and if you win, you'll get a lot of money!"

"But what if I lose? Like yesterday?" I said sadly.

"So what? We can take a defeat, and it's not like we'll lose loads of money if we do." Terra reasoned.

"Are you sure? All of you?" I asked, my heart rising.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we battled." Terra said, "save for Luke, of course."

"So let's try and find someone!" Sarah said enthusiastically.

After wandering around for about half an hour, running into only two people who weren't trainers, but trying to get to Lilycove before their Repels wore off, I suddenly heard Sarah shouting.

"Danni! I've found someone!"

"You have?" I shouted back, running in the direction of the voice. As I drew to a halt, I saw Sarah pointing to a trainer who was staring at her. I could tell by the look in the trainer's eyes that he really wanted to capture Sarah, but he obviously knew that it belonged to someone because she was glaring at him, as if daring him to throw a Pokéball at her.

"Excuse me," I said, running over to the trainer. He must only have been about thirteen, with short blond hair and light skin. He was very skinny, but looked determined. I just hoped my experience would give me an advantage.

"Yes?" he said, turning to face me.

"Would you like to battle me? I've been looking for someone to battle against for a while, and you look pretty strong."

The boy looked happy at the complement and then took a Pokéball from his belt. "Six-on-six?" he asked, "and no substitutions."

Why? Why was it that every time I entered a battle I was humiliated?

"Um... how about four-on-four?" I said desperately.

"Five-on-five." The boy grinned. I wanted to accept, but at the same time I couldn't enter a battle with one less Pokémon and I wasn't even sure we would win. And judging from the grin the boy was wearing, he was confident that he would.

"Go on – four-on-four." I pleaded.

"Fine," He said, "but you choose first."

I looked around to check that Russell was actually nearby before commanding him to go and battle. "Russell, go!"

"A Linoone? Ha!" laughed the kid. I felt slightly angry, and Russell bristled with rage. He _hated_ being insulted. "Go, Volty!"

From the Pokéball that the boy threw forward came a Pokémon that, were it not much bigger, would be indistinguishable from the Pokéball itself.

I almost laughed at the sheer patheticness of the nickname. Volty the Voltorb? Then I remembered -Urgh... why the no substitutions? Sarah could take it down in one Mud Shot! Okay, since the Voltorb's main strength was in its Speed, I had to take away that advantage.

"Headbutt quickly!" I shouted.

"Screech!" the boy yelled.

Mercifully, Russell landed the first hit, and, due to Voltorb's low Defense, probably did a lot of damage. _Please flinch, please flinch... _I said to myself, but then a painfully high-pitched screech emanating from the Voltorb proved that it hadn't recoiled.

"Russell, Fury Swipes!" I shouted, again hoping that we would get in the first hit.

"Sonicboom, Volty!" shouted the kid. The Voltorb spun around amazingly fast and then fired a beam at Russell. Russell, although hurting from the attack, dashed over to the ballike Pokémon and began clawing at it as many times as he could. The Voltorb began spinning around, trying to throw him off. After swiping at the Voltorb for the fourth time, Russell was finally thrown off. He flew a couple of feet, but landed unharmed.

"Shock Wave!" commanded the boy.

While normally I would have commanded for Russell to dodge that attack, I knew it would be pointless, as I had learnt about the never-missing property of Shock Wave the hard way at the Mauville Gym.

"Stay there!" I shouted, hoping Russell could take the hit. It was pointless even trying to evade it, so the best I could do would be to make Russell prepared. The Voltorb let lose a bolt of electricity from its body, which flew over to Russell as if it were drawn to a magnet and hit him, causing a cloud of dust to rise. I was unaware of whether or not Russell was fainted or not, but all the same I shouted "Headbutt!", so, were he not fainted, we could get in another hit before the Voltorb. Suddenly, a beige and brown streak shot out of the dust and propelled itself into the Ball Pokémon. The Voltorb flinched, rolling backwards with an expression of pain and anger on its 'face'. "Now, just use Headbutt one more time!" I shouted excitedly. Russell slammed himself head first into his opponent, causing it to just faint on impact.

"Yes!" I shouted happily. The boy stared at Russell briefly before recalling his Pokémon, regaining a look of determination and throwing another ball into the air.

"Donny, go!" he shouted proudly. I guessed that the Donphan he had just sent out was the strongest Pokémon he had. I was about to recall Russell for Sarah when I remembered the no-substitutions rule. After the Screech, Shock Wave and Sonicboom attacks, Russell didn't look like he could take much more damage, so I had to attack as swiftly and effectively as I could.

"Headbutt!" I yelled

"Rollout!" the kid shouted. Russell got the first hit in, slamming the Donphan with full force, but the Donphan didn't even balk. It began running to build momentum before curling into a ball and rolling at full speed toward Russell. It hit him, sending him flying in the air, but he managed to land safely without much damage. On my command he launched another Headbutt, but was hit with the retaliation of another Rollout attack, this one much more powerful than the previous assault.

"Russell!" I shouted in panic, but Russell did not get up. '_Well battled'_. I inwardly told him, calling him back inside his Pokéball. '_Well there isn't much of a debate who battles next'_ I thought, smiling.

"Go, Sarah!"

Sarah leaped onto the battlefield, smirking evilly at the Donphan, which was still spinning around like an out-of-control wheel.

"Muddy Water!" I shouted to her, grinning. Had she chosen to evolve, she would never have learnt that attack at her current level, showing that not all changes are for the batter.

"Quit your Rollout!" the kid yelled to his Donphan, obviously wanting to halt the Rock-type attack against a Ground-type Pokémon, but without any success. However, the Donphan skidded over to Sarah and hit her, knocking her into the air. She used this to her advantage and fired a powerful jet of brown water at the Donphan, being able to score a critical hit from her aerial perspective, knocking it over and halting its Rollout attack. The Donphan shook its head and glared at Sarah, who glared right back.

"Take Down!"  
"Muddy Water again!"

The Donphan once again managed to score a hit first, barreling into Sarah, throwing her three meters across the grass, which gave her a soft landing. She leaped up and ran over to the Armor Pokémon, jumping a couple of feet into the air and shooting another beam of mucky water at the Donphan, making it fall over again. I noticed that this time it took a little longer to get up. I used this to my advantage. "Just use a quick Mud Slap!" I shouted, knowing that Mud Slap was quicker and much easier use now that the ground was splattered with mud. However, it was an underpowered attack, so I just hoped that it could knock the Donphan out in one hit.

"Take Down!" the kid yelled to his Pokémon. It was obviously weak, and even I, from a good few meters away, could see the mud in its eyes, paining it.

"Dodge it, Sarah, and then Muddy Water!"

Sarah stood still as the elephant-like Pokémon came barreling towards her, its eyes closed to ease the pain of the mud. But at the last second, a moment before the breaking impact, Sarah did an army roll to the side and narrowly evaded the attack. She leaped up from the ground and fired a jet of brown water at the Donphan, which was looking around, trying to see why it hadn't hit anything. But just one hit on the side by the jet of water and it collapsed in a heap.

"Grrr, go Shroomy!" the boy shouted, throwing a Great Ball in the air, while using a second to recall his motionless Donphan.

A Breloom materialized on the patch of grass and smirked at Sarah, obviously knowing it had an extreme type advantage.

"Blind it with Mud Slap!" I commanded, hoping to make Sarah last in this battle for as long as possible.

"Mach Punch!"

The Breloom obviously got the first hit in, rushing over to Sarah at what seemed like light speed before Sarah went sprawling. It was too fast to even attempt to dodge.  
"Come on Sarah, get up!" I shouted, doing my best to sound encouraging, "Mud Slap!"

Sarah picked herself off the ground yet again and used her fin-like hands to scoop a large amount of mud from the sopping wet floor and hurled it into the Breloom's eyes. But despite the accuracy loss I knew it must have suffered, I also knew it had taken very little damage from a Ground-type attack. The kid also knew this, and knew his type-match-ups as well, as he commanded, "Finish it with Mega Drain!"

"Get out of its way!" I screamed, watching my Pokémon, my friend, turn around and be hit in the face by the Breloom's tail. The four seeds on its tail glowed a bright white as it sucked Sarah's energy, restoring its own HP. Sarah finally managed to throw the mushroom Pokémon off, but she used the last of her strength to do so, as she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Sarah, come back," I said, holding out a Pokéball, into which Sarah disappeared in a burst of red energy. "Go Terra!"

Terra swooped down from the sky and fluttered just above the ground – Levitating. With a bit of luck, the boy would never have encountered a Vibrava before and would be fooled by its Buy/Flying-type appearance. While it was unreliable to depend on another trainer's ignorance, it had helped win battles before. Why, there was a Frenzy Tournament I had entered a long time ago, between my journeys to Johto and Oore, when she very nearly won a battle after her Jolteon opponent thought she was part Flying and kept using electrical attacks. With a bit of luck, my opponent would do the same and not use Grass-type attacks on her, due to Flying/Bug's high resistance.

"Faint Attack!" I commanded.

"Mega Drain!" the kid shouted. There I was – making another stupid mistake. How on earth did I manage to get the _Boulder Badge_? Terra landed the first attack of course, hitting exactly the right spot. The Breloom responded by hitting her with its tail and sucking out her energy as it had done to Sarah.

"Break away!" I yelled, "Come on!"

Terra obviously heard me, and leaped off, using the Breloom's head as a springboard.

"Try and use Fly!" I shouted. Even though I didn't have the Fly HM, I hoped that because Terra knew _how_ to fly, as well as watching other Pokémon perform the attack, she could pull off something similar. After looking questionably at me briefly, she flew up into the sky, dodging another Mega Drain attack that the Breloom was trying to hit her with. She then dived down again, with unimaginable speed, coming closer and closer to her target.

"Be careful!" I warned, doubting she could actually hear me due to the speed she was traveling at, but I really didn't want her to misjudge the attack and miss, crashing into the ground, or hit at the wrong angle and break her neck, or-

"Terra, pull out!" I screamed, as the previously unforeseen dangers of using an unlearned attack flooded me, "PULL OUT! STOP IT!"

Terra either didn't hear me or ignored me, as she continued her attack, zooming down toward the Breloom, looking like a yellow blur. I closed my eyes and inwardly prayed that she would perform the attack successfully. When I opened my eyes again, two seconds later, I saw an unconscious Breloom being recalled into a Great Ball, and Terra levitating a few feet from the ground, though looking very dazed.

"Terra!" I shouted, "are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Fine I am..." she said dizzily, "but three of you I see..."

"I think she's just confused." Luke said quietly, "she'll be fine once you recall her."

"But I can't! I can't make substitutions!" I panicked, "and I don't have any items!"

"Go! Comby!"

I looked to see what kind of Pokémon the kid was sending out, quickly scanning my brain for a Pokémon beginning with "Com". A medium-sized chicken-like Pokémon with long legs and an angry expression materialized in front of me. A Combusken, of course. I had a feeling that I was more confused than Terra.

"Terra, shake off the confusion and use Dragonbreath!" I yelled to my disorientated Vibrava.

"Comby, try a Double Kick attack!" the kid shouted.

Terra took a deep breath and created a veil of Dragon Fire, while not touching it. Then she wobbled in midair and slipped into the fire.

"Aaaarrgh!" she screamed, leaping out of it, but at the same time ruining her attack and enabling the Combusken to hit her twice with a vicious kicking assault.

"Terra, move out of the way of its attacks and try and get rid of your confusion!" I shouted desperately.

"Quick Comby, use Blaze Kick before it moves!"

Despite Terra's amazing speed, the Combusken hit her full on with a scorching kick to her head. Despite Terra's Dragon resistance to Fire, the attack on top of the Double Kick, Mega Drain and her own confusion was too much, and she collapsed exhausted to the floor.

"Terra, come back." I said, holding up her white ball, which she vanished into in a beam of green energy. I turned to Luke, who was standing next to me, watching the battle and now knew that it was all down to him.

"Okay Luke, do you reckon you can do it?" I asked, grinning.

Luke shook his head.

"What?" I yelled, looking at him in disbelief.

"But I'll battle anyway." He said, walking over to the triumphant-looking Combusken, which was flexing its leg muscles threateningly.

"This should be easy if you use Aerial Ace repeatedly!" I shouted as encouragingly as I could, "Go!"

"Double Kick!" my opponent shouted, "don't let it hit you!"

"Quickly!" I called.

Luke ran at his adversary as quickly as he could, leaping off the ground at the last second, before spinning back toward the Combusken, his claws extended. The Combusken was caught off guard by the attack, taken aback by the speed and accuracy with which it was preformed.

"Use it again!" I shouted, "Don't stop! Don't give it a chance to hit you!"

Luke leaped into the air for a second time, and brought the aerial attack crashing down on his opponent on nearly the same spot as before, causing major damage.

"Double Kick now!" the kid screamed. His Pokémon responded by kicking Luke viciously in the face, knocking him over, then in the chest, nearly winding him.

"Luke!" I yelled. We couldn't lose this battle. Not because of the money, but because of the psychological effects losing was having on Luke. If he lost, he might fall into depression or worse. And then I would know it was all my fault... "It's weak! Use Slash!"

Luke picked himself up from the ground and in one fluid motion swiped at the Young Fowl Pokémon. But his claws hit nothing but air. The Combusken had jumped into Luke's blind spot – literally. I really hoped that Luke didn't realize that it was his lack of eye that caused him to misjudge and miss that hit.

"Kick it!"

"Move out of the way! Roll!" I shouted instantly, not even comprehending what I said. Luke dropped to the floor, letting the powerful kick attack fly over him. Unfortunately for the Combusken, it had put so much power into the kick that when it hit nothing, its momentum carried it too far and it slipped for a fraction of a second. That was all Luke needed.

"Aerial Ace!" I shouted instantly. This was how battles were supposed to be, trainer and Pokémon sharing one mind, not the trainer calling out commands randomly. Luke took my cue and jumped up. The Combusken poorly aimed an Ember attack at him, but it missed by a long shot. Then it looked up to see Luke diving down on top of it, just before it passed out with the force of the attack.

I gazed with awe and pride at my partner, who was now standing right next to the unconscious Combusken. Then I ran over to him to give him a hug. "Well done," I quietly told him, "I knew you could do it."

"Comby, come back," said the kid gloomily, recalling his fainted Pokémon, before turning to me. "That was amazing! You're really strong!"

"I am?" I repeated, smiling at Luke. "I'm not; it's just that my Pokémon are."

"So, um..." the kid said, giving me some money, "I'd better get Donny and the others to a Pokémon Center. Bye!"

"Thanks!" I called as he ran off to Lilycove to get his Pokémon healed. I looked quickly at the money in my hands. Four hundred and sixty-four Credits. And with my thirty-six, it meant I could visit the Safari Zone! I was delighted, and Luke's face was lit up with happiness, too.

"But we'd better get them to a Pokémon Center first." Luke pointed out.

"Must we?" I said, feeling slightly uncomfortable, while still feeling a swelling of happiness in my chest, "The Safari Zone doesn't require trainers to have Pokémon with them, and they won't know whether they were unconscious for a minute or five days."

"Okay..." said Luke, sounding unsure.

I grinned widely, "Come on, then!" I shouted, running off in the direction of the Safari Zone.

---------

A/N: Oh yeah! The concept the Pokémon Frenzy Tournament is copyrighted to Dragonfree ::grin::


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** The good news: I'm not dead! And I have LOADS more of SS to update with! Yaaay! I am so sorry for not updating for such a long time; I feel really bad about it…

The bad news: My email is still screwed up, so I'll probably not be replying to emails for quite a while Meh. Still, it's great to be back and I really missed you all!

**Dedication:** To everyone who reviewed Loving Memory. You sure know how to make me feel better :draws you all into a tight hug while crying eyes out: Okay, maybe I'm still a _little_ emotional about it… And to the guy who fixed my computer! I LOVE YOU!

**Disclaimer:** Tell you what; you give me the legal rights to Pokémon and I'll give you this… um… Water Energy Card!

-

Sianne's Story 

By Dannichu

Chapter 4 – In which we have Danni getting into to the Safari Zone and a load of stuff actually vaguely conductive to the plot happening.

A little later, after Luke had asked directions from a wild Linoone, we found the Safari Zone. From the outside it looked large, with a big, white building serving as the Safari Entrance, where you paid to enter, left your Pokémon and got your Safari balls.

"Excuse me miss," came a gruff voice from behind me, "If you're going to the Safari Zone, you'll need to leave your Pokémon with us." I turned around and saw one of the Safari Wardens. He was a large man dressed in green, with a short beard and a hat, sitting behind a counter.  
"Of course." I said, handing him my Pokébelt, before recalling Luke and handing him over, too.

"That's five hundred, please." He grunted, holding out a hand, into which I put my money,

"Thank you," said the man putting my money in a small till and my Pokémon in a shelf behind him. I looked up at the other shelves and saw hundreds and hundreds of Pokéballs on shelves, each with a name sticker below, indicating who the trainer was. I gulped, knowing what was coming next.

"Name, please." said the Warden, now at a small computer, ready to type in my name.

"Umm… I said uncomfortably. "Can I just give you my ID number as identity?" I never gave out my full name to anyone, not even Sarah or my Pokémon friends, all the way all the way through Kanto, Johto, Oore, or anywhere. It wasn't without is drawback, however; it restricted me from doing things that everyday trainers take for granted. I couldn't even enter the Pokémon League competitions because I had to give out my name, and they would announce it on nationwide television. Mercifully the Gym leaders didn't ask me my name, and if I did, I could tell them it was unimportant or at least give them my Christian name. I just didn't want to give them my surname because… well, I couldn't, since I hadn't really got one. Ever since my parents had been killed by a psychopathic Rhydon, I never used my full name, since as far as I was concerned, their names, along with their bodies, were six feet under. I had never wanted to make one up, as that would mean me pretending to belong to a family, with a mom, dad, brothers and sisters. I had never had that; I had just grown up with just Sparky for company.

I had no family and I didn't want to pretend I did.

The man looked up from the flatscreen computer. "Huh?"

"Would it be possible", I said, feeling myself go red, "for me to give you my Trainer ID number instead?"

"Why?" he questioned, staring at me, making me go even redder.

"Because… " I stumbled, "It's easier." I looked up hopefully.

"Okay then." The Warden said, his gaze never leaving me, "if you'll hand me your Pokédex there, I'll enter your number instead."

I handed over my blue Kyogre Pokédex, one which I was nowhere near to completing, with only about the data of six Pokémon in, since I was totally against the idea of leaving my Pokémon in a computer with no friends, no company, no nothing.

"Okay, so your number is 04453, yes?" he asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Okay then." He said, taking a strip of paper from his printer with my identification number on and sticking it just below the shelf, "you'll need to take this." He handed me a small, mechanical device, which had a kind of clip on the back.

"What is it?" I asked, taking it from him.

"A pedometer." Replied the man. "You clip it onto your belt and it will measure how many steps you take. This is how we know when your time is up."

"Okay," I said, clipping it onto the top of my pants, since I had just handed over my Pokébelt.

"And no taking it off, mind, or it'll set off an alarm, which will lead you to a lifelong ban from the Safari Zone."

I nodded.

"Enjoy yourself." He said, opening the door, and leading me out into the huge expanse of the Safari Zone.

If I said that I thought that the Safari Zone was large from the outside, it was absolutely gigantic from the inside. The grass was so tall, going above my waist, giving me a huge sense of suspense with every step I took. Of course, since trainers were going in unarmed, the Pokémon inside had a special computerized chip that disabled all of their attacks until it was removed by a special machine in the Safari Entrance. I had read all of this in a trainer's book, but it had never mentioned the pedometers before. They must have been a new feature, to stop dishonest people from cheating to gain extra time.

Anyway, it was time for me to catch a Pikachu.

"Pikachu, where are you?" I said aloud, hoping that no other trainers were around. I was looking over the grass, hoping to catch some sign of a thunderbolt-shaped tail. Suddenly, I felt something connect sharply and painfully with my leg. Stunned with the sudden pain, I fell over, clutching my shin. "Ow!" I shouted, probably scaring off all Pikachu (and other Pokémon) in the vicinity. Sitting up, I was ready to scream at whatever or whoever had caused my injury. Looking up, I saw it was a Pokéblock Feeder. Sheepishly, I stood up, careful not to put too much weight on my left leg. I opened by bag and took out my Pokéblock Case. Opening it, I found just one badly made Red Pokéblock (Pokémon weren't all that great at amking Pokéblocks, especially ones with fins for hands. Yeah, I had tried Pokéblock making. I took it out and placed it in the feeder. I then sat down, rubbed my leg a bit and waited.

After a few minutes, I saw a movement of the tall grass. I looked, almost bursting with anticipation. A Girafarig walked over to the feeder and began nibbling at the Pokéblock there. I wanted to walk over to it and attempt to capture it, but I didn't. I didn't want to use up one more step or ball than was necessary. I would sit and wait until my Pikachu came along. Another rustle. A Rhyhorn came out of the grass and pushed the Girafarig out of the way of the Feeder and began eating the Pokéblock inside. Still I sat patiently. I saw many Pokémon come and go; Doduo, Phanpy, Heracross and multitudes of Oddish. Suddenly I heard something move behind me. I whirled around while still sitting down and saw a bright yellow mouse with red cheeks and a curious expression looking up at me. "Chu?" it enquired.

Trying not to explode with anticipation, I began to crawl slowly toward the Pikachu. It looked at me curiously, but still with intelligence in its bright eyes. It knew I was a human, and it knew I was trying to capture it. And yet it didn't run away. This made me want to catch it even more. I came as close to the Pikachu as I felt was necessary before throwing a Safari ball at it. The Pikachu looked surprised when the ball hit it, but the ball sucked it up in a flash of green light. I stared at the Safari ball intently, expecting it to wobble. It however, offered no resistance whatsoever. It just vanished inside the ball, and the ball itself closed and remained stationary.

Hardly daring to believe that I had just caught a Pikachu, I crawled over to the Pokéball and picked it up. It felt warm, as all kinds of Pokéballs did when they contained a Pokémon. Suppressing the urge to scream something along the lines of 'YES!', I hugged the ball close to me, stood up and began walking around, trying to find another Pokémon I wanted to catch; a Natu maybe, or perhaps a Psyduck. Then, as if a Jirachi had just read my thoughts and decided to make my wish come true, I saw a Natu hop out right in front of me. I had read in a trainer's manual that Natu will not flee as long as you retain eye contact, so I stared intently at the little bird while reaching into my pack for a Safari ball. My eyes were beginning to water from trying not to blink, but I continued stating at the Natu. I enlarged the Safari ball behind my back and then threw it at the Natu as quickly as I could. It tried to hop away, but the ball hit it on the back, causing it to fall over, while the ball opened and sucked the struggling Pokémon inside. I clutched the ball of my new Pikachu as tightly as I could with anticipation. The ball wobbled once. Twice. Three times. Then it split open, beyond use, and the Natu rematerialized. I turned around to grab another Safari ball, but by the time I had got one and turned around, the Natu was nowhere to be seen. I inwardly cursed, then decided to put the ball of my new Pikachu in my bag while keeping two empty Safari balls out, ready to throw at the first opportunity.

About fifteen minutes later, after failing dismally to catch a Girafarig, Doduo and Gloom (I managed to make them run before even getting the chance to chuck a ball), I sat down and wondered if it would be better if I were to stay here and wait for the Pokémon to find me. Then I decided that I should walk around, seeing as I had already caught my Pikachu, and anything after that was merely an added bonus. Also, since I had given all my money to get into this place, I might as well enjoy it, instead of kneeling down in a pile of damp grass. Standing back up, and noticing my leg was feeling a little better, I looked around. There were no trainers in sight, though I could make out a Rest House in the distance. There was a large lake to my left, but I had no fishing rods, so I couldn't catch any aquatic Pokémon. Up ahead there was an almost vertical cliff of mud. I wouldn't risk trying to climb up it; you could only hope to do so using either specialist climbing equipment or being a professional Mach Bike rider. So I turned right, where there was even taller grass, reaching up to my chest. If it got any taller than this, I wouldn't be able to see. I hated being short. Wading into the river of grass, I tried to listen for any Pokémon that may have been nearby. I walked along, straining my eyes and my ears while still holding a Safari ball in each hand, trying to detect any movement or noise that could be that of a Pokémon. I was constantly looking up ahead, desperately trying to see a rustle of grass or something, and not looking at all where I was going. Mercifully there were no Pokéblock feeders in this particular area, so my shins were safe. Then I heard a noise. I stopped dead in my tracks and listened._  
_

'_Chaaa…'_

That was, make no mistake, the sound of a sleeping Pikachu. And I should know, having spent over four years in a house with one of them, one by the name of Sparky who slept about thirteen hours a day. Even though I had already captured one Pikachu, another one would make me even happier, so I broke into a run, while still treading as softly as I could, so as not to create noise or earth vibrations.

"CHUUU!" came a scream from underneath me. Looking down, I saw a very angry-looking Pikachu glaring up at me, with my foot on its tail. "CHUUUU!" it tried again, squeezing its cheeks as hard as it could, but it was no use. The attack–blocker wouldn't break. Seeing that 'Operation: Fry Human' wasn't going to work, the Pikachu tried Plan B: run. Dodging between my legs at lightning speed, it ran in a constant direction. Suddenly, I remembered something; there was a lake in that direction, and the Pikachu was running straight towards it very fast. I knew from going to the local pool with Sparky when I was a kid that while Pikachu could swim, they had to learn over time and have the water at a certain temperature. Horror struck me; if that Pikachu drowned because of me, I could never _ever_ forgive myself. Dropping the Safari Balls in my hands, I ran as fast as I could in the direction of the Pikachu. Pikachu are faster than humans, but I was motivated and was running so fast it seemed that my legs weren't even part of me any more. Looking up ahead I saw the Pikachu, running and still yelling, obviously frustrated because of the attack-blocker. And even further ahead was the lake. It was running straight towards it, at a pace I could never hope to catch up with. And a pace at which it couldn't stop when it suddenly saw the water. I slid my bag of my shoulders while running and dropped it on the floor, hoping that no wild Pokémon would come and steal it. My gaze was constantly flicking between the Pikachu, which was still running blindly, and the lake. The Pikachu was within twenty feet of the lake now, and it showed no signs of slowing down at all. Ten… five… three… it seemed totally unaware of the lake's existence. Then suddenly the land gave way to it and the helpless Pikachu splashed into the huge, deep lake. I shouted in horror, continuing running before kicking off my shoes and then leaping into the water, fully clothed, hoping against hope that the Pikachu was okay.

I wiped the slightly dirty water out of my eyes and looked around; there was no sign of the Pikachu anywhere. A sudden feeling of dread suddenly washed over me; what if there were Gyrados or Sharpedo in the lake? Sure I had never read about them being there, but Magikarp are everywhere and if there's a Magikarp…

"No!" I shouted to myself. I wouldn't think like that! I swam around, looking for a pair of black-tipped yellow ears, or a lightning bolt-shaped tail. I discovered that I couldn't touch the bottom; the lake must have been very deep. "Pikachu!" I shouted. "Pikachu!"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Sure, I've taken ages in writing this, but it's pretty long. And vaguely eventful. And I'll let you be the judge of whether or not it's any good in a review:

**Dedication:** To everyone who gave me such nice birthday presents; Twisted Alyx for your adorable picture, Dragonfree/Butterfree for your hilarious and brilliant fic, MissingNo for your picture and fanfic (which I just love), and Sarah for your wonderful aeroplane sick bag! I love you all!

**Disclaimer:** Satoshi Tajiri Millionaire Japanese genius games-designer guy: Creator of Pokémon.

Dannichu Random and insane writer of fanfiction with outlandish pie obsession: Not creator of Pokémon.

-

Sianne's Story 

By Dannichu

**

* * *

**

Chaa…" Came a voice from the other side to the lake. I looked up so fast I forgot to tread water and sunk slightly below the surface. I kicked myself up again, blinked the filthy water out of my eyes and stared. The Pikachu was in about the middle of the lake, on its back and kicking itself along lazily, as if it didn't have a care in the world.  
"Wha?" I said aloud. The Pikachu noticed me, gave me an evil kind of smile that read plainly _'can't catch me!_,_'_ and dived underwater. I was amazed. Sparky and I had gone to the local swimming pool about once every fortnight and Sparky had _never_ gone underwater. Sure, Sparky was less adventurous than most Pikachu, but to see this trainerless Pikachu dive underwater like a Dratini amazed me.

I doggy-paddled to the bank, shook most of the water out of my hair, which was normally messy and flyway, but was now sopping wet and covered in mud, grabbed my shoes in one hand, shoved my bag on one shoulder and grabbed a Safari ball from its side-pocket. I then ran over to the other side of the lake, hoping to catch the amazing Pikachu by surprise when it resurfaced. After nearly a minute I was puzzled. I couldn't hold my breath that long, sure when I was lying on my bed calmly, but not while swimming. And my lungs were triple the size of a Pikachu's. I was beginning to get worried when suddenly the Pikachu appeared above the water, panting slightly. I immediately, as if out of reflex threw the ball, which hit the Pikachu just as it tried to dive back underwater before bouncing off the mouse, landing on the bank on the other side while absorbing the Pikachu in mystical green light. I took out another ball, hoping to be able to throw it if it were to break out before it managed to dive back into the water. I watched the ball with as much anticipation as I did with the first Pikachu. I gazed intently at the ball shaking on the embankment. It wobbled once, twice, then a third time rather violently. Again, out of reflex I threw the ball I was holding, but it fell straight into the water and sunk. I returned my gaze to the ball in which the water-loving Pikachu was, struggling to escape the balls boundaries. Then the ball rested, not even twitching. Overjoyed at not only capturing a new Pokémon, at not only another Pikachu, but one that could swim without even being taught by a trainer. Pokémon never ceased to amaze me; probably one of the reasons why I loved them so very much. I dashed over at a speed to rival Terra's, grabbed the ball and kissed it.

After I had put my other new Pikachu's ball in my bag, I realized what a state I must have looked, soaked from head to toe, covered in mud and I even had strands of pondweed in my hair. I picked out the weed and squeezed my shirt and trousers as much as I could without removing them. Then, still smiling insanely, I wandered around looking for other Pokémon I could capture and add to my team of not only just Pokémon, but also my friends.

I mentally counted how many balls I would have left. If I began with thirty; caught my first Pikachu with one, wasted one on a Natu, caught my second Pikachu with one and then thrown one into the water, I was left with 26. Plenty. But then I thought; if I did catch more than six, I would have to stick them in a computer, which was even worse than keeping them in a ball unless I needed to battle with them, since at least they got to stretch their legs occasionally. But being stuck in a computer would be my worst nightmare, worse even than being cramped up in a tiny ball; being nothing more than a string of data until I was taken out and used as a machine. Some trainers had no compassion for their Pokémon at all; it was despicable. So I had caught the Pokémon I wanted, two in fact, and I was over the moon about it. Why not exit now and leave the Pokémon in the Safari Zone running free until they were captured by someone who would use them as teammates and friends? I grinned. For one of the few times since I arrived in Hoenn, I knew I was doing the right thing.

I decided to check how many steps I had taken so I pulled my t-shirt up slightly and looked at the small machine attached to where my belt would have been, were it not in the Safari Entrance. There was nothing displayed on the screen. I looked harder at it, seeing if there was some button to turn it on, but I saw none. I guess they had given me a faulty one at the Entrance. While I knew most trainers would take extreme advantage of this, I figured that lying and cheating was pointless and besides, I had already decided not to catch any more Pokémon. With that, I began making my way back to the Safari Entrance, still grinning happily.

Today just couldn't get better.

I managed to get back to the Safari Entrance, seeing a whole host of Pokémon, but I didn't catch any. Okay, I attempted to catch a Phanpy, temporarily forgetting what I had decided, but it escaped and ran off. I bumped into one trainer and we talked for a bit, telling each other what Pokémon we had captured or hope to catch. I saw him get a look of anticipation when I told him I had caught two Pikachu, but then added firmly, "I just love Pikachu, I wouldn't trade them for anything." Once in the Entrance, I was asked if I wanted to stop then. I handed back twenty-five Pokéballs and the pedometer, it slipped my mind to mention that it was faulty. I got my Pokébelt back, had the anti-attack chips removed from both my Pikachu and was about to exit when a voice stopped me.

"'Scuse me, miss."

I turned around. "Yes?"

"What've you done to this here pedometer?

"Nothing." I said, "Oh, I remember... It was faulty. I tried to check how many steps I had left and the screen was blank. But I'm sure I kept within the five hundred."

"No, miss. It was working when we gave it to you."

"It wasn't!" I protested. "I didn't do anything to it!"

"Hmmm…" the man said, examining it closely. "Nothing, eh? It looks to me like its got dropped in the water. So how'd you manage to take it off?"

"I didn't!" I said far more loudly than I intended, causing a few people to stare. But then I remembered… "It _did_ get wet."

"So you took it off? That's one lifelong-"

"No, I didn't take it off! I went into the water!"

The man looked me up and down, even though I was now dry, thanks to the cool breezes and warm sun, it was pretty obvious I had gone into some kind of water. Not very clean water at that.

"How'd you get into the water?" he demanded, looking angry.

"I… I jumped in to-"

"You jumped into the water? You mean you just leaped into the lake?" he said, not bothering to stifle a patronizing laugh.

"Yes, I did. And it was to save a drowning Pokémon."

Okay, I decided to stretch the truth a little. I had every _intention_ of saving a drowning Pikachu.

"What Pokémon?" he asked suspiciously, his face centimeters from mine. And heck, did his breath stink.

"A Pikachu." I answered truthfully.

"A Pikachu?" he repeated, before turning to the other Safari Warden who looked a little angry about having to deal with an entire queue of people while the other on-duty Warden was questioning me. "Hey Percy." He said.

"What is it, Luke?" replied the other Warden grouchily.

I felt slightly insulted on my Luke's behalf about having to share his name with such an idiot.

"Can Pikachu swim?"

Percy, or whoever he was, looked angry at being interrupted with such a pointless and random question. "no. They're electric mice. How'd you expect them to?" before turning back to the irritated queue of people.

"It's true!" I said.

"Did anyone see you? Any witnesses?" he asked, clearly enjoying acting detective.

"Um… no. Nobody."

"And the Pikachu?" he asked.

"I did rescue it. And capture it. It was one of the ones I caught."

"Can I see it?" he asked.

I took out both Pokéballs containing Pikachu. After releasing them both I admitted. "I'm not sure which one it is."

But, looking at them, it was easy to see which one had been in the water. Its fur was wet, since Pokémon didn't dry while in their balls, and muddy. "That one." I said, pointing at it. "Definitely."

"Did this trainer save you?" he asked. It didn't answer, instead, running off and leaping on top of the public computer. "Chu chu!" it sang.

The Warden was getting very annoyed now. "Recall it!" he commanded. I did so and then turned to face him. "I'm wet, the Pikachu was soaked, what more evidence do you need?"

"Gimmie a minute." He said, holding up a fat forefinger at me. He picked up a phone, pressed the number three and spoke into it.

"Yeah, management… There's a trainer here who broke her pedometer... No, she didn't take it off. Apparently she jumped into the lake to save a Pikachu… Yeah, I'm pretty sure. … They both looked like they'd been in the lake… No, we don't have CCTV there; it's a lake for the love of Pete! …Okay… Okay… Cheers."

"Okay kid." He said, putting the phone down. "You're off the hook. Now go." He pointed at the exit, which I was only too happy to leave through.

After running for about fifteen minutes I arrived, very out of breath, at the Lilycove Pokémon Center. I had managed to avoid getting attacked by any wild Pokémon, which was very good since all my Pokémon but Luke and the Pikachu were out cold, Luke hated fighting and wasn't feeling too great, and I had no experience with the Pikachu and the last thing I wanted to do was to lose the first battle because I wasn't thinking straight. I had to have them checked over before battling with them anyway. One of them might have a broken leg or be deaf or anything. Therefore I would never battle with a Pokémon without getting it checked over first. I handed all six of my balls over to the Joy behind the desk I was standing by; it felt great to be able to hand over six Pokémon, while most trainers had caught at least six before leaving their hometown, I didn't want to capture a Pokémon that I wouldn't like or who wouldn't like me as its trainer (I sure made a mistake with Daigree, my Sneasel, there).

I rented one of the Free Public Rooms at the Pokémon Center and had a nice long shower, not before dumping my clothes in the washing machine which was conveniently in the small kitchen of the room. I left them in there to clean while I had my shower and I got out, with a towel around me and put all my clothes in a tumble drier while I used a hairdryer in the shower room to dry my hair. This took just over half an hour and by then my Pokémon were ready. Nurse Joy came up to me when I entered the foyer and handed me all six of my Pokémon, with which I dashed outside and onto the beach before releasing, feeling as happy as I possibly could without exploding.

I sent out all of the Pokémon, beginning with Luke, finishing with the two Pikachu. The original four Pokémon turned to look at the two new Pikachu, one who had a slightly crazed expression on its face and the other who sported a sort of embarrassed look.

"Hi." I said as way of an introduction, "It's been a while since I've heard Pikachu, but I should be able to talk to you."  
"If only we were so lucky." muttered Sarah to Terra. I had found understanding Mudkip particularly hard to understand, and when she evolved it was even worse. The only way I could understand her at all to begin with was through playing charades and the kind of connection between us. I recognized it as the bond between a Pokémon and its trainer.

"Hi." said the calmer Pikachu, waving its paw at us. I noticed that it was a lot skinnier than the other one, but didn't say anything.

The second Pikachu was staring at the ocean with an expression of happiness on its face. "The sea…" it said in awe.

"Have you never seen the sea before?" Russell asked curiously.  
"No, but I've heard about it... it's so beautiful…" it said.

"So, um, so you have a name or anything?" I asked. The only I had ever met who had a name pronounceable in the human tongue (not, for example, one said only in the Pikachu language) given to them before I gave them one was Daigree, so it was very rare but I knew that some did, and I wanted to respect that. Also, if they didn't want a nickname, that was fine too.

"Me?" asked the Pikachu who was still staring at the sea. "Nope. Not a one."

"What about you?" I asked, bending down and looking my other Pikachu in the eye.

"Um, well, actually I do." It said, still rather shy. I reminded strongly of Sparky, were Sparky not smaller.

"What is it?"  
"Well, my family", I thought I imagined the flicker in its eye when it said that, but passed it off as my imagination, "has a tradition of name-giving and we are each given a name by fate." It explained, a misty look in its eyes. I saw Luke looking at it with an intense gaze, obviously very interested. The others were intrigued, too. So was I. I had never heard of this.

"This began about five thousand years ago and since then the ancient fate spirits Mew, Celebi and Jirachi not only give our parents our eggs but also give us instructions about our names. When our eggs are about to hatch we are given a name, each relevant to our future and purpose."

"Wow…" I said, hardly able to take it in. Sparky had never mentioned anything like this before. Luke looked amazed. "So what's your name?" I asked.

"Sianne." The Pikachu replied, grinning.

"That's a really nice name." Terra said, fascinated by the new additions to our team.

"And are you two related?" Russell asked, looking between the calm and deep Pikachu to the one restraining itself from diving into the sea.

"I've never met this guy before." Sianne said. "He seems to love the water though."

"He? It's a male?" I asked. I had totally forgotten to ask them their genders. But they were both so interesting.

"Sure," said Terra, "you can tell by looking at his face. The expression on his face is so obviously masculine. Look." We all looked, and the Pikachu suddenly noticed us all staring and gave us a huge cheesy grin.

"Yeah, you're right." I said. "And you… you're…" I took a good look at Sianne's face, studying every feature; what struck me first was that its face looked forcibly aged, as if it had grown up ahead of its years. But then I looked deeply and saw its greenish eyes, its small nose, tiny eyelashes, and, I noticed, now so close to its face, it had a scar running across its right cheek; just like me. I studied its face for about half a minute before deciding. "Female." I said, looking up. "I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, I'm female." She assured us, smiling. "I'm flattered you could tell; my brothers", there was definitely a hint of bitterness there, "normally went on about how I looked like a guy and things. And you're… well, you're a human."

"You don't." I reassured her. "Not at all."  
"She didn't know _I _was female!" said Sarah indignantly.

"Oh, give it a rest Sarah." Terra said, rolling her eyes at the incessant Marshtomp.

"So, um… non-Sianne Pikachu. Would you want a name? I mean, lots of trainers don't give them names, but I think it makes Pokémon more individual and things."

"Sure!" he said, grinning again.

"Hmm…" I closed my eyes and tried to think. What was the word? I had left school earlier than most, desperate to begin training. I had always made the important decisions in my life, like when I would leave school. While many people in my class were going to study hard and wanted to get a good job, I really wanted to go and train Pokémon. And, I decided, money didn't matter. And nothing showed that more than my position now; with hardly a Credit to my name and yet with some of the best friends anyone could ever want. Of course, there were some things that staying on for school would have been useful for. And one of those things was languages. "S...Su... Souriee!" I shouted, remembering the French word for 'mouse'.

"Don't you mean 'souriss'?." Terra asked, being very intelligent, but never showing off about it.

"Um… yeah. Souriss." I said, slightly embarrassed.

"Nah; I like Souriee!" Said the Pikachu, delighted at getting a name. "Suh-ree" he said, sounding it out. "I really like it!"

"Really?" I said, and upon seeing him nod, "That's it then; Sianne and Souriee!"

"Yaaay!" Souriee said, dancing around. "Imagine if my friends could see me now! With a trainer! And I have a name! A nickname! And," he added, grinning widely, "I've seen the ocean! I've wanted to see that since a Pichu. If a 1000-ton anvil came and crushed me now, I'd die a happy Pokémon."

I laughed, and then looked at the sea. Hmm… I didn't have a swimming costume in my rucksack, and my clothes were newly cleaned since the Safari Zone Lake... I took a look at Souriee's expectant face and thought about it and grinned. Ah, whatever; you only live once.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Chapter… erm… six. Wow. More than AOTCS. Then again, these are very easy to write, since I've had this story planned out in my head for a while. It's still _way_ longer than I expected.  
I know Souriee is a bit of a bad name, but he's actually called that on my Ruby game, and I wanted to keep him like that (although the Ruby Souriee is actually female..).

**Dedication:** This chapter's for one of my best friends, Alex. If he's reading, that is. Hey Alex, I've dedicated a chapter to you! Look, darn it!

**Disclaimer:** Do I own Pokémon? Nope. But right now I'd settle for a nice thunderbolt to smite whoever it is that makes us do exams all the time. I'm being driven to sanity by it all…

**Sianne's Story**

By Dannichu

* * *

**Chapter 6**

About fifteen minutes later, Souriee, Sianne, Luke, Russell, Sarah and I were all splashing around in the water, having an absolutely great time, despite the fact the water was freezing. Terra, who wasn't particularly fond of the water and couldn't swim, as her body wasn't made for it at all, fluttered above out heads, watching while enjoying every minute of it. Then she dived down and grabbed Souriee. She then flew up, carrying him with her feet and then asking him something. He nodded and Terra let go, with Souriee about ten meters above the water.

"WHOOHOOO!" he screamed, before putting his hands together as if he were praying, putting them above his head and taking a diving stance. As he entered the water there was a huge splash, and then we saw Souriee bobbing about, grinning ecstatically at us.

After about an hour of swimming in the sea, we all decided, even Sarah, that if we didn't get out then, we would perish through hypothermia. Not to mention it was getting dark and cold earlier, as we were in the last days of summer. I found my large Porygon2 washcloth at the bottom of my pack and used it as a towel to dry off my Pokémon before wiping my face, putting it back in my bag and then squeezing out as much water as I could from my t-shirt. Once again I was glad I was wearing a dark blue shirt; I my white one had a horrible habit of going see-through when it was wet. Terra flew down to see us, and together the seven of us made our way back to the Lilycove Pokémon Center for a rest and a nice warm shower.

I never knew how nice a bath could be. We went into the room with the biggest bath in the entire Pokémon Center and shared it. Of course, I wore my swimming costume the whole time, but it was so relaxing, soaking in the foamy bubbles surrounded by my friends. Terra was, I think, sleeping on the bed in the other room (the Lilycove Pokémon Center had the largest rooms, all of them with an en-suite bath or shower, and quite a lot of them with small kitchens. Of course, it was still all free, sponsored by the League and all that). After fifteen minutes, we all got out and dried ourselves with the thick fluffy towels on the towel rail. I squeezed my hair until it stopped dripping and then made a kind of turban using a smaller hand towel before going back into the bathroom to change into my newly-cleaned clothes that were looking a little worse the wear after the various escapades I had been on during the day.

Even though it was only about nine PM, I was exhausted because of all the emotions that I had felt that day; regret, anger, disappointment… and, of course, a whole lot of happiness. I was about to recall all the Pokémon into their respective balls when I saw that the bed was big enough for all of us to sleep comfortably.  
"Hey," I said to the Pokémon, a couple of which still had wet fur; Luke and Russell particularly, but I really didn't care. "Wanna share the bed?"  
There was an immediate scuffle and within thirty seconds we were all in the double bed; it was a bit of a squeeze, but we were all snuggled up warmly. Russell and Souriee were curled up at the foot of the bed; Luke, Sianne, Sarah and I were all snuggled up in at the top, while Terra was asleep on my stomach, moving up and down with my breathing. I smiled widely before reaching up and pulling on the light cord, causing darkness to flood the room. I don't think any of us stayed awake for very long that night.

The next morning I groggily awoke and found myself in a huge bed with a couple of Pokémon around me. In my state of semi-consciousness, I looked down and saw a Pikachu. '_Where on earth did a Pikachu come from?_' I inwardly asked myself. '_and why am I not camping?_'

"Finally decide to get up?" Terra asked, grinning at me from the other side of the room. I sat up and saw not only Terra, but also Luke, Russell and Sianne were already up and ready to go. Only Sarah, Souriee and I were still asleep. "Uh, yeah." I said, embarrassed, while waking up Sarah and Souriee, "sorry about that. I was just tired, I guess."

"Murgh…" murmured Souriee blearily, "I HATE mornings…"

"Come on, come on!" Russell said excitedly. We're in Lilycove, and there's so many things to do!"

"There is?" I asked, smiling at Russell's enthusiasm. "Like what?"

"Well… " he began, taking a deep breath, "there's a HUGE Pokémart, which is worth a look even if we can't buy anything, as well as a Trainer House, a lighthouse, the Move Deleter…" he looked at me, and I grinned. We could finally get rid of that stupid Cut HM! I didn't even mean to teach it to him, the stupid box-CD thingy had fallen out of my bag while he was still a little Zigzagoon, and the dust inside had gone all over him, making his brain learn it. It was only those who had learned a form of psychology-hypnosis that could make Pokémon forget their HM moves. That was why HMs were rare; even though they could be used repeatedly, many trainers didn't think it was fair to give their Pokémon something they could never get rid of. It was like having a tattoo on your back; not seeing it, but knowing it was there and knowing you could never get it off. "…and, best of all, there's the Museum!" Russell exclaimed.

"Of course!" shouted Terra, looking delighted, "the Museum! I heard about that, but I forgot it was in Lilycove!"

"Art?" said Sianne, her ears perking up, "can we go and see it?"

"I don't know." I said, "is there an entrance fee? And are Pokémon allowed inside?"

"I don't think there's a fee." said Russell thoughtfully. "I heard that is was run off donations, and sponsored by the League."

"Is _everything_ run off the League?" Sarah asked.

"Pretty much," I said, grinning, "It's just that the majority of people in Hoenn are trainers, all with a varied amount of money. So people with lots can give donations, which makes the journey much less strenuous for those without so much."

"And as for Pokémon being allowed in," the Linoone continued happily, "I should think they would be, especially since loads of the exhibits are of the Contest Pokémon, so the trainers can bring along their Pokémon and look at their pictures!"

"Contest Pokémon?" Souriee inquired.

"Yeah." I said, "you can enter a Pokémon in a Contest and the audience will vote on their favorite. That's the first stage. Then the Pokémon does its appeals and tries to impress the judge. The Pokémon that does the best between the two stages wins!"

"Have any of you won any Contests?" Sianne asked, looking at my four older Pokémon, impressed.

"Yeah." I said. "Both Sarah and Terra have a Tough Contest Normal Rank ribbon, and Russell both a Normal and Super Rank Cool contest one!" I took the ribbons out of the front pocket of my bag and showed them to the two Pikachu. "Luke could have easily won the Cool Contest too, but he didn't want to, which was can all respect. _Right_ guys?" I said, looking at Sarah.

"Hey!" shouted the Marshtomp indignantly. "I _said_ I was sorry!"

"And there's the Master Rank Contests!" Russell added. "All the Pokémon that take part there are prizewinners! They'll be amazing!"

"But they'll have been bred for it." I sniffed. "Think about the Pokémon that whoever bred but didn't have the right personality or moves or whatever! I'd never breed Pokémon to win some Contest. Besides, you're all the coolest, cutest, smartest, toughest and most beautiful Pokémon I've ever met." I said proudly, drawing them all into a hug. "But even so, what say we go and be part of the crowd today?"

"We really could?" asked Souriee, his face lighting up. "We could be part of the audience?"

"Sure; why not?"

"Oh WOW!" he shouted, leaping out of my arms, looking ecstatic, squealing happily and then jumping back into them for a hug. "Thank you, thank you!"

"You mean it?" Russell asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course! We're not in a hurry to go anywhere, are we? We can have a wonderful day free of battles and stress, where we can wander around being tourists!"

"All right!" Russell, Sarah and Souriee chorused.

"…The participating trainers and their Pokémon are as follows!" said the announcer, a woman in a bright red dress who looked ready to explode with excitement. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, and had a grin that, were it any bigger, probably would have split her face in two.

"Hey, Danni," Sarah whispered in my ear, "do you think that woman could be any happier if she tried?"  
I had to stifle a laugh; the last thing I wanted was to get kicked out. I had already had a bit of an argument over whether or not Pokémon were allowed in.

"Janelle and her Luvdisc, Luvis!"

The woman exclaimed, indicating to an older girl with a pink headband, who opened a Pokéball, releasing her poorly-named Luvdisc. Now I wasn't a particularly large fan of Luvdisc myself, to me they had always looked a lot like haricot beans, but it was, truth be told, the first time I had ever seen a real one close up. And it was pretty cute, with its big eyes and little mouth. I cheered along with quite a lot of the crowd, and, I think, all of my Pokémon. The girl smiled confidently.

"…And here we have Sling, a Slaking belonging to Keaton!"

The small boy sent out his Slaking and, I had to admit, I really had seen cuter things in my life. It was far cuter than most Slaking I had seen; it wasn't like most Slaking, lying down on one side with a grumpy expression, looking like a lazy slob, but its eyes still made it look bored. I saw the look on Keaton's face, he looked so proud of his Pokémon. On his belt, where he clipped his Slaking's Pokéball, I noticed that there were no other balls on it. So his Slaking, Sling but have been his only Pokémon. I just had to cheer, not very loudly I'll admit, but I still cheered him on. The boy's face lit up.

"…Now Camille with her Utan, a Xatu!"

I looked up expectantly. I just loved Xatu. Still do. The girl took out a Safari Ball and opened it, causing a magnificent Xatu to burst forth. I'm not sure why I just love Xatu so much, I guess it had something to do with them being birds, or maybe their spectacular colors. But this one was just… amazing. Its colors were so prominent; it looked like it had flown though a rainbow. Its eyes were big and innocent, it looked so well-cared for, with neatly clipped claws, a beak just the right size, all feathers so nicely preened. It was also larger than most Xatu, about a head taller than the mousy-haired girl who had sent him/her out. Ironically, the girl herself looked like she had been through a mudslide, with dirty clothes, messy hair and it was hard to tell whether her skin was tanned or just dirty. Not that I could really talk, I looked like something dragged through a hedge backwards, even though my clothes were newly washed, they still looked worn out. My hair was, again recently washed, but it never looked 'nice'. Heck, I had a job making it border on 'presentable'. I cheered as loudly as I could, and I could hear Souriee, who was on my shoulder, Terra who was on my head, and Sarah who was directly next to me doing the same thing. The rest of the crowd seemed rather impressed. The girl, Camille, blushed with a lopsided grin on her face.

"…And last, but by no means least, we have Nigel and his Kullusk!"

The guy was also older, he looked as if he were in his twenties, and he was wearing an assortment of combat-style clothes. He sent out his Pokémon, a Duskull. My first reaction upon seeing it was something along the lines of '_How on earth did that Pokémon scrape the Normal Rank?_' It wasn't that it looked ugly, it was just… a Duskull. How on earth are Duskull meant to be cute? They're ghosts with one eye! This one had a really sweet scarf on though; embroidered with tiny hearts. It looked a little odd on the Duskull. Still, I murmured along with the cheering that the other people were making.

The rest of the Contest passed brilliantly. We would cheer whenever a Pokémon put across a very Cute appeal. My personal favorite part was when that Xatu used Return. The look in its eyes as it thought of all the times it had been though with is trainer before turning it all into energy and releasing it. It was just so special. After the last appeal had been performed, the Pokémon returned to their original positions and awaited the results. Eventually, the judge stood up. He was a very old man. He looked withered almost, like a plant starved of water; you could see by looking at it that it was once proud and strong, but now it was wilted and droopy. Nevertheless, he was very good at what he did, I guessed he had been doing it for a while, and was never biased toward or against any of the Contestants. When he stood up, the bustling crowed suddenly became as silent as the grave, all attention focused on the frail old man before us.

"The Judge looks ready to make his announcement!" said the excited woman, bouncing on the spot.

"I will now declare the winner!" said the judge in a loud voice.

Everyone in the room waited with bated breath.

"Utan the Xatu and her trainer Camille!" he shouted before the large crowd before him erupted into cheers and shouts. Camille and her Xatu walked over to the judge, who gave the trainer a gorgeous pink ribbon, far more elaborate than that which Russelland the othershad won back in the Verdanturf Contests. I, of course, joined in the deafening cheering along with the rest of the crowd, which was far bigger than that of any contest I had previously visited. This one was nearing eighty or so people, nearly full to capacity.

"That was great, wasn't it?" Souriee said in wonderment. After we had gotten trampled by the onslaught of people exiting the Contest hall, we walked outside and were wandering around aimlessly, mostly discussing that Contest. "But I really think that Slaking should have won."

"Really?" I asked.

"Sure." said Terra, joining in the conversation, "It looked so well cared for, and so loved. And her trainer wasn't one of those people who breed for Contests, he just wanted to show his appreciation to his partner."

"Really? Wow, I didn't know that. I just loved the Xatu."

"Tch. Humans." muttered Souriee under his breath, so quietly I didn't really catch what he'd said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah shouted, suddenly turning on the Electric mouse. "Are you in any way implying that my trainer, my best friend is small-minded?"

"No!" Souriee shouted, holding up his little hands in defeat. "Not at all!

"Good." Sarah said, giving him one last glare.

"Sarah!" I said, shocked.

"Yeah?"

"What was that about?"

"He was accusing you of being shallow! I wasn't going to stand for it!"

"Sheesh Sarah, I appreciate it, but calm down!"

"Sorry."

"I have an idea!" said Terra suddenly, either struck by a sudden thought or wanting to change the subject. "How about we go and look at the museum?"

"Yeah!" agreed Sianne, "I'd love to see those pictures of the prizewinners!"

"And those ancient statues!" added Russell, "Some of them are thousands of years old!"

"I heard that they now have loads of exhibits on conservation!" Souriee exclaimed, "I really want to see them!"

"Okay with everyone?" I asked, looking to see all six Pokémon nodding. "Right then. Next stop, Lilycove Museum!"

* * *

**A/N:** I know you're thinking "What the heck does this chapter have to do with anything!". How do I know? I'm thinking the same thing. Ah well. I love contests, so I had to put one in. Review!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Dear pie, this series is dragging on a tad. Still, I'm very pleased with the response it has received – it's one of the very few trainer fanfics out there that actually has a vaguely normal trainer. By "normal", I mean "unspecial", you know – not Ash Ketchum, not on a mission to save the world, not falling in love, not with a string of legendaries after her blood or so on. Which I'm proud of – long live the boring trainers! Whee!

**Dedication:** To David, for fixing our computer! IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou! I'll ignore the fact you're married, have children and would never in a million years read Pokémon fanfics. Meh.

**Disclaimer:** Hey, Nintendo, here's the deal: I'll quit claiming to own Pokémon if you actually put effort into making Colosseum 2? How does that sound?

**Sianne's Story**

By Dannichu

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"Get a load of that!" exclaimed Souriee, pointing at a huge stone statue of an Articuno. Luke, Russell and I came over to look. 

"It says here that it was made at about five-hundred AD!" said Russell, pointing at the description.

"That means it's nearly two thousand years old!" breathed Luke.

"I didn't know they'd even invented Articuno then!" said Souriee in awe, but unable to keep the perpetual grin off his face.

"The legendary Pokémon are the ones told of most often in ancient tales; the prehistoric people were fascinated by them." explained Terra. "If they saw a rare or large or graceful Pokémon that they liked, some would even hail it was a god."

"So that explains why there are pictures of Regirock and Rayquaza on those cave walls and such?" asked Russell, very interested.

"Sure. In Hoenn the favorites are the ones depicting the great battle between Kyogre and Groudon, but in Kanto, the legendary birds are more common, especially since they had control over the seasons, bringing about winter, spring and the weather. And, of course, In Johto it's the legendary cat trio."

"Cats? They're dogs!" interrupted Sarah.

"Dogs? They're so OBVIOUSLY cats!" Souriee countered while Russell and Terra just looked at each other.

"But they're DOGS! Everyone calls them that!"

"Look at Raikou! Have you ever seen a dog like that?"

"Heck, have you ever seen a CAT like it?"

"Will you two stop it?" Luke said quietly but with an easily detectable tone of urgency in his voice. "Look!" he indicated to where a large number of the other museum visitors were looking angry, and the few staff that were ion the vicinity running over.

"They can't understand Pokémon!" I said quickly and quietly. "They'll think you're about to battle!"

"Oh." said Sarah, looking up. "Whoops."

After I had been given a lecture from the museum manager about how "Priceless these works of art are!", Terra continued.

"But they were misled about some Pokémon. For example, Aerodactyl was used a lot, and most dragons were also thought of as gods. It's not uncommon to see on an ancient cave a painting of a Salamence or Dragonite or," she paused, "Flygon."

"What about Marshtomp?"

"Sorry Sarah. Very few Marshtomp pictures. Lots of Milotic, though."

"That's so cool…" breathed Russell.

"Yeah." I agreed. "How'd you know all this?"

"Me?" Terra asked, pointing at herself. "I was born and raised in a desert; one that contains an ancient sealed-away tomb! If there aren't cave paintings there, they won't be anywhere!"

"Of course…" I said, feeling a little silly.

"Get a load of these pictures!" shouted Souriee, as we walked into the next exhibit, one displaying the contest-winning Pokémon. "They're so cool!"

"They really show the qualities of the Pokémon." Luke remarked, looking at one of an Aron, "You can really tell what contest they won."

"I bet you anything this Delcatty won the Cute one!" shouted Sarah excitedly, pointing vigorously at a painting depicting a very cute Pokémon, but it was also the most deformed thing I had ever seen.

"They must enhance these or something…" I muttered, gazing at the Delcatty's huge eyes and small body, with legs much smaller than that of any real Delcatty.

"Hm?" Russell murmured, walking over. "Yeah, this one is baaad. They 'improve' the Beauty and Tough ones a little too."

I looked over and saw one that was of a Tough Contest champion, a Mightyena with muscles so huge it looked like it would take down an Aggron in one hit.

"This one's really nice!" called over Sianne. We all hurried over to see the Cool Contest winners. "Look at that Manectric!"

"Yeah…" I breathed. "And that Skarmory is just amazing!"

"Hm. They didn't do such a good job of that Minun there." said Russell, putting his head to one side to look at it from a different perspective. "It looks like it's from a cute contest."

"Lookie!" shouted Souriee, "A Raichu! A really cool one at that!" I looked at the picture and it truly was amazing. It looked natural and yet so powerful at the same time.

"I think there are some more though here as well!" called Terra, pointing towards another door of the museum.

We spent about three hours looking through the entirety of the museum. It was so interesting, with things from modern art to exhibitions on the prevention of pollution to fossils from ancient eras, when Pokémon like Aerodayctl and Kabutops ruled the land. It was fascinating, and I think everyone got something out of it.

"That was just…" I breathed after we had come out.

"Amazing?" offered Terra, perched on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I mean, that Helix Fossil was, what, about three million years old!"

"And I never knew how much the sea suffers from humans… " said Souriee sadly. It was odd to see him look downcast; he was normally so happy.

"But with exhibitions like that, it's sure to raise awareness of things like that." Sianne pointed out.

"Yeah," I agreed, "And the Oceanic Museum in Slateport! You'd love to go and see that!"

"Yeah!" Souriee shouted happily, imagining it.

"So what was your absolutely _favorite_ bit?" I asked.

"Those fossils, I think," said Terra, "I mean, we had lots in the desert, but nothing that size!"

"I love that Raichu picture! It was amazing!" grinned Souriee.

"Yeah, a lot of those Contest pictures were exceptionally well drawn." Luke agreed.

"I just loved those ancient artifacts," said Russell. "They were just so cool! And most of them were found around here!"

"Yes, but you have to remember that Lilycove is the closest landmass to Sootopolis, the epicenter of the great battle between the Pokémon of the land and those of the sea, so it would be natural for many ancient things to be discovered here." Terra reminded us. "There were loads of old fossils and so on found in the desert by humans once."

"Really?" asked Russell, intrigued.

"Sure. It was, millions of years ago, part of the sea, so it's full of fossils and stuff today. It would just be so hard to find any of them, since they'd all be buried and so on."

"Wow…" Russell breathed.

After our chat about the museum, we decided, since it was such a nice day, that we could stroll down to the beach and walk around there, maybe taking a look at the lighthouse. Souriee was ecstatic, so our group made its way over the confusing ledges that occurred naturally around Lilycove and onto the beach.

During our swim at the beach yesterday, I noticed that there weren't all that many people, but I passed that off since it was getting to be autumn, it had been late for going to the beach, and the tide was all the way in, leaving little space for walking along. But today there still weren't all that many people, which was astonishing since it was a perfect day for going for a walk, and the beach itself looked stunning. The sand, which in some parts was totally flat, but in others made up some small dunes, was golden and fine, without any littler, driftwood or even seaweed marring its near-perfect appearance. In fact, the only thing that to tell me that it wasn't a mirage was that there were many footprints going this way and that, footprints of humans, of Pokémon and even some bike tracks. The sea glittered in the early afternoon sun, as if someone had tipped glitter all over it so it would twinkle back little fragments of sunlight into the eyes of those mesmerized by its beauty.

"Russell, where are you going?" Terra called, as the Linoone darted off happily over the sand dunes.

"Looking for stuff!" he shouted back before disappearing from sight. Terra made a "tch" noise.

"What is it?" asked Sianne.

It's just that… he always darts off looking for stuff, with his eyes glued to the ground, his nose alert to nothing but the smell of discarded and lost objects." she said in her typical hurried manner, as if there was so much to tell and there simply wasn't enough time in the world for everything she needed to say.

"What's so bad about that?" Luke asked.

"Nothing. It's just that… that he's missing out on so much." she said from her position on my shoulder.

"He is?" Sarah and I chorused.

"Well… in my eyes, yes. There are so many amazing things in this world, so many beautiful, wonderful things that just make you, well, they make me at least, want to say thank you for creation. Look around at the sea today. What could be more prefect than that huge expanse of water, that home to so many, that source of life to all? But he doesn't see that. All he sees, and it's his own choice to do so, is the small part of ground in front of him, and disregarding it if it doesn't contain some kind of lost object." Terra looked up to see us all staring at her intently. She looked a little embarrassed, but continued. "It's such a pity when there are so many other things worth looking for, worth nothing materialistically, but worth everything in the world at that moment when you're just captivated by it, the essence of nature and the beauty of the planet. That's why I think he's missing out."

"I agree." said Luke. "I really do. It's such a shame he doesn't see things the way you do."

"You think so?" asked Sianne, "I don't think it is. It's the way he views things, the way he wants to see the world. While you, Terra, see the world as a masterpiece, the ultimate work of art, Russell sees it as one huge treasure hunt, where he can spend his time having fun looking at the past though the things he finds. Everyone sees the world differently, some see it as a funhouse, and others see it as the small pointless journey between the points of birth and death. Some view it as a whole planetful of people who you could, with enough power, enslave for your own selfish needs, while others view it as a paradise. Sure, not all of these beliefs are good ones, but I think that the way you see the planet is one of the most important things that determines who you are."

I nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Sianne, she made a very good point. But it would be nice if Russell took the time to just look at some of the things around him."

We began talking about this for a while, getting very deep and philosophical. Well, Terra, Souriee, Luke and I did. Sarah and Souriee were a bit confused by what we were nattering on about, not through lack of intelligence, of course. The only Pokémon I've ever met who was intellectually cleverer than Sarah was Hlî, my Charizard (and possibly Onett, my friend Sarah's Espeon), but Sarah takes everything for what it is, seldom looking for a deeper meaning to things. Again, I admire that, and it's part of her personality. And I was guessing Souriee was the same.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh dear pie, I'm turning into Terra. :slaps self: enough with the philosophy! Anyways, I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible and try and speed things along. 

Oh yeah - a HUGE thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! You make everyhting worthwhile! Thank you so much!

By the way - I reckon they're dogs


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Yet aother update for SS and not a sign of AOTCS. I'm really sorry, people. Anyway, in response to Ri2's valid comment, the other Pokémon mentioned (Sparky, Sarah, Onett, etc)might appear at the end, but they are all in my other fic, Adventures of the Clinically Strange.  
Also, "What exactly IS Siann'e Story?". This is an very good question. I'm not sure yet. But doesn't it sound good? XD Seriously, it'll probably come in either the next chapter or the one after that.

**Dedication: **To Terajin, Sephychan, Flibblekins, Bob, Fleecy, Huffleduffinand Shnugglepoo. As my way of an apology for your nicknames. Mwaha.

**Disclaimer:** If you can access the official Pokémon site and not see a string of pies following your cursor around the screen, it's a sure sign that I have not yet taken ownership of Pokémon. Yet…

**Sianne's Story**

By Dannichu

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Guys!" came an excited but slightly muffled shout from about three dunes away, "Guys! Wook at dish!"

We all looked to the source of the voice and saw Russell dashing over to us, something yellow in his mouth, restricting his speech.

"What is it?" I shouted to him, while Terra darted over to him, fast as blinking.

"I don't know! I think it's a piece of porcelain!" he said excitedly, putting it on the sand for us all to look at. "But look at it! It's so pretty! And it looks so old as well!"

I looked down at the old relic with awe. It was pretty big, about the size of a small plate, and appeared to be a fragment off something like a vase, since it was concave-shaped. The edges looked like they were once jagged, but time had sanded off the points, making it lose some of its serrated appearance. But it was what was depicted on the large shard that was so amazing. There was a large yellow and black catlike creature racing across the land, thunderbolts hitting the land behind it. In the sky was a bird about the same size, also shooting electricity. All of the painting was done in black, painted over the yellow of the porcelain. It was painted in an odd style, as if it were painted by someone who had only a vague idea of what the two creatures looked like, for example if he had only seen glimpses of them, or had been told sketchy details by someone who had seen them.

"This is… just incredible!" I said, transfixed by Russell's find.

"It certainly is…" agreed Luke, gazing upon it in wonderment.

"What are we gonna do with it?" asked Sarah, after looking at it. "We can't carry it around in Danni's bag, it'll get broken."

"What do you think, Russell?" I asked. "You should decide, you were the one that found it."

"Well... Sarah has a point, we can't just carry it around since it'll get broken or stolen or something. We also don't have any use for it, since we can't eat it, sleep on it or catch Pokémon with it. So what I was thinking is maybe we could sell or give it to the museum, so everybody could see it!"

"That's a great idea!" I exclaimed. "Especially if we could sell it; we're in dire need of some money about now, especially with two extra mouths to feed. Not that I mind, of course." I added hastily, seeing the expression on Souriee's face.

"So shall we take it there now?" Sarah asked.

"Well," Terra pointed out, "we could take it back to a room in the Pokémon Center and clean it up a bit first. I think that the hundreds of years or whatever that it's been buried for probably didn't do wonders for its appearance, so we could make it look nice if we're going to sell it."

I nodded, "That okay?" I asked Russell and the others.

"Sure," Russell agreed, "It's a good plan."

"Shall I take it?" I asked, "I promise I won't drop it."

"You sure?" Sarah asked, grinning at me.

"With something this precious? You've gotta be kidding."

After getting back to the room, I took out my washing-up stuff, which basically consisted of an old piece of flannel and some soapy liquid. Not the best by any means, but it worked. I was a little apprehensive about weather or not using the soap on the artifact was a good idea, but in the end we decided to use it only on the front, where the picture was. We washed the rest of it extremely carefully, that is, getting out my bundle of pencils and so on, taking my two paintbrushes and dipping them in water before brushing away the numerous pieces of dirt that had collected on it over the ages.

"D'you reckon they'll buy it?" asked Souriee curiously, sitting with Sianne, Terra and Luke on the bed, while Sarah and I brushed at the fragment, Russell watching so closely I would brush his nose on occasions.

"I'm not sure. They might, but even if they don't, they can have it, since we don't have any use for it," said Russell, not looking up.

"It'd be a nice addition to that Relics display they have there." Terra said quickly, "I wonder if they have any of the other pieces?"

"What?" Souriee asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I mean the other bits that fit with this. It must've been a vase or something once upon a time. And if we found this intact, I'm sure there are other bits of it somewhere."

"That's true." said Russell, "But there weren't any other pieces of this when I looked. This was buried and all. I had to dig it up."

"How did you know it was there?" Sianne inquired.

"I smelt it." said Russell proudly.

"But," I said, looking down at the artifact, "even if they did have all the other pieces, they wouldn't fit."

"Why?" asked Luke, squinting at the fragment.

"Because, look, all the edges are smooth. It would be like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces circle-shaped."

"That's true," said Russell, "but it could still be glued together, even if it didn't fit exactly right."

"Mmm." I agreed, before putting my brush down and taking a step back to admire my work. "I think… I think that it's about ready. What do you think, Russell?"

"It looks great! Sheesh, I really hope they'll buy it off us!"

"Me too!" shouted Sarah happily, putting her brush down also, "It would be great if it was worth loads. We wouldn't have to worry about food or anything!"

"Yes, but don't get your hopes too high." I said before getting my towel out of my bag, wrapping it around the now clean piece of ancient china and holding it to my chest, before motioning for Sarah to open the door. "Let's go see, shall we?"

"Hmm… Interesting. Very interesting indeed." said the shriveled man who was inspecting our fragment of vase or whatever. He looked old enough to be _put_ in a museum, not just to work there. He was hunched over and squinting at the large fragment through what looked like a monocle, his bushy moustache almost touching it, occasionally muttering words like "fascinating…" or "remarkable!". I took this as a good sign.

We were in one of the museum's back rooms. This one was very tidy and free of clutter, with only a few filing cabinets and a table with a desk lamp to show that someone ever entered it at all. It was a small room, painted white with a "paint" smell about it, and there was a window about halfway up one of the small walls.

"Yes…" he muttered before straitening up, giving us a scary view of one eye magnified to look twice as large as the other, as he was still wearing his magnifier-monocle-thingy. He must have not noticed us all recoil a little because he just kept it there.

"Yes, yes." he said, glancing down at the relic, "this is very interesting. It appears to be from the late Neptiarian age, when the humans were fascinated by the legendary Pokémon and hailed them as gods. This isn't exactly from the very primitive era, for example, it is not as old as the cave paintings, and definitely after the Octerassic period, as most Pokémon around today were there back then, but between that stage and when humans and Pokémon began coexisting together. This is shown by the technique of the vase making, it is made very much in the style of this era, as can be seen by…"

He droned on about the history of the vase for about fifteen minutes. I would probably have been vaguely interested were his voice not so boring and if I was able to sit down or something. I subconsciously yawned and looked at my friends, who were, with the exceptions of Russell and Luke, staring at him with glazed-over eyes.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked, breaking him out of his uninteresting tirade.

"Yes?" he said, looking, I was relived to notice, not the least bit angry that I had interrupted him.

"I was wondering that… um… does the museum buy things like this?" I mumbled, pointing at the vase fragment.

"Buy? Oh no, dear. It all runs off kind donations from people who one day stumble across wondrous finds as you yourself have done! Why, just the other week, I had a woman in here who had found the most _fascinating_ piece of fossil I've seen in a long time! Now that dated back to…"

I sighed. Not because the museum didn't buy things from people, but because this old man was just so… _boring. _I decided to be polite and just stare blankly at him for a while as he droned on and on about fossilized Tropius eggs and old pieces of amber. I was noticing how heavy my eyelids were getting before Sarah interrupted his nonsensical ramble. "So you wouldn't buy it from us?"  
"No, sorry. I'm not in a position to put a price on it. See, this museum is in the same chain as the one in Pewter in Kanto and the new one situated outside the Ruins of Alph in Johto, and the same man owns them all and he is adamant that the museums should be run solely by donations. And a very nice man he is too. He once showed me an extremely rare piece of cloth which was made about a thousand years ago and was made entirely from Spinarak thread! Imagine! It survived all the weather, all the wars, and you could still see what it depicted! And then-"

"Could you trade it?" Sianne asked suddenly.

"Could I trade it?" he repeated, a bit baffled by the question.

"Yeah." I said before he could go off on a long spiel about something random that nobody cared about, "We give you this, and you give us something. It doesn't have to be valuable, but-"

"It's just that we're enthralled by things from ancient times." Interrupted Sarah. "I mean, all those things you mentioned, they're just amazing. We _love_ looking at the things left behind from past times, things that show us how humans and Pokémon used to live."

I stared at her. Sarah was lying through her teeth; she couldn't really care less about the past; all she lived for was the here and the now. She did seem to have the old guy's attention though.

"And since we found this for the museum, we thought that we could maybe have something in return, as I'm sure you'll want to add this fine piece of ancient art to your wonderful and extensive collection of unique artifacts."

"But of course!" he said, grinning. I really wished he hadn't, since the few teeth he did have were yellow and horrible. "You should have said something sooner! I think I have just the thing for you!"

He hobbled out of the room, giving us enough time to exchange glances and breathe a sigh of relief before he reappeared, looking very triumphant.

"Here we are!" he declared, putting something down on the table. I glanced at it. It was a translucent medium-sized greenish stone with a shape inside. It looked familiar, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"A Thunderstone!" he cried exultantly, grinning again. "One of the very few in Hoenn. They are rare and exquisite stones which possess and energy field depending on their type. A Thunderstone such as this will have an electrical cell-altering field around it, causing the cell structure of a compatible Pokémon to mutate, changing in not only terms of its appearance, but mentally, most commonly trading the ability to learn attacks for extra power, and then being able to wield the attacks learned in its previous form or forms with the power given to it in its new one. For example, an Arcanine will be virtually unable to learn any new techniques without the aid of a man-made machine, but its ability to use the attacks it knows from pre-evolution will be enhanced greatly, meaning that were it to use a Fire-type attack, its power would be greater than that with which it could perform it in the Growlithe stage owing to the expanded flame chamber and-"

I was very proud of myself – I actually listed to part of his incessant rambling, before getting bored and staring at a fascinating dust particle that was floating around my nose. But a Thunderstone… I could use one of those to evolve either Sianne or Souriee! I began thinking about it, and the more I did so, the more I like the idea. It would be the best of both worlds, I would have a light, speedy and cute Pikachu and a big, tough and powerful Raichu.

"Of course, as is with the same of any evolution, the effects cannot be reversed, that is if you decide not to count a Ditto's transformations as evolutions, because even though the cell structure and DNA of the original Pokémon changes-"

"This is great!" I said loudly, breaking him out of his tangent. "We'll take it! Thank you very much!"

"Yeah!" agreed Sarah quickly, before the man could get a word in, "It's been great talking to you, and we hope you continue sharing your knowledge of the past with others!"

"See ya!" waved Souriee. I picked up the Thunderstone, shook the man's hand and we all exited probably more quickly than was polite, but we agreed that another rant from him would most probably drive us insane.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** :dodges thrown fruit: I'm sorry! I've been so unbelievably bust it's unimaginable. Seriously. I could hardly breathe. But I finally updated, so you can enjoy! Whee!

Here it is… the actual Sianne's story! It only took about nine chapters… ¬.¬ Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far; you've made my day!

**Dedication: **To everyone who voted in TPT's BIC awards... you poeple rock!

**Disclaimer:** Did you know that if Nintendo ever did sue me for claiming to own their concept, whatever money they won would have gone to them anyway, through me buying games, cards, plushies, etcetera? And what a wonderful bit of warped, pointless of reverse-psychology that is.

* * *

**Sianne's Story**

By Dannichu

Chapter 9

A little later, we ate our meal of two cans of tinned vegetables on the beach, watching the sun go down, making the sky turn into a breathtaking, near-perfect scene. It was difficult to tell which it looked more like; a masterpiece drawn by the most skilled artist in the world, or a mess made by a three-year-old who had been left to run riot with red, orange and pink watercolors on a perfect dark blue piece of paper. Either way, it was a magnificent spectacle. Even Russell commented on how beautiful it was. After that, I recalled my Pokémon since it was getting late, dark and cold, and made my way back to the room in the Pokémon Center. Once there, I changed into my pajamas, took another look at the Thunderstone and fell asleep.

I awoke far earlier in the morning than I thought I would have, but I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before stumbling into the bathroom where I splashed some water on my face and then ran my old brush though my hair a few times before getting it caught on a large tangle at the back. I pulled out the tangle using my hands and shoved my hair into a haphazard ponytail. I then half-heartedly squeezed some toothpaste in my silvery Totodile toothbrush and brushed my teeth quickly. Once I felt clean enough, I went back into the bedroom and took out a Safari Ball from my Pokébelt, which was lying in a pile of random clothing at the foot of the bed.

I took the ball and held it in my hands for a few minutes, wondering how to ask the question I wanted to ask. After releasing the Pikachu inside, which turned out to be Sianne, I asked her.

"Hey Sianne."

"Morning Danni."

"Hey Sianne… I was thinking… you know yesterday?"

"Don't worry; I've thought about it enough already." she said, smiling.

"Wha?" I said, nonplussed.

"About evolving."

"Ah." I said sheepishly. "How did you-"

"You got a Thunderstone. I'm a Pikachu. And you were so nervous; it was pretty obvious."

"Ehe." I muttered. "So, erm… what do you think?"

"Well," Sianne said in a way that made it obvious that she'd thought about it thoroughly, "I spent almost all of last night thinking about it. I'm not really a battling Pokémon. When I was little I was bullied a lot by my brothers and sisters, but-"

"You were?" I interrupted.

"Was what?"

"Bullied."

"Oh sure. Most wild Pokémon live for battling. Since most of them live in groups, they all battle on a regular basis for domination. So when I lived with my family, I was always shoved to the bottom of the pile."

"That's terrible… so where did you live before coming to the Safari Zone?" I asked, realizing that I should have asked that much earlier.

"Me? Oh, I was born in an old abandoned Power Plant. I don't know whether you'll have heard of it, it's just by Cerulean. It wasn't too pleasant there; whenever there was a huge thunderstorm, we could see Zapdos flying around, draining electrical energy from us and the other Pokémon in there. See, it isn't the collection of Pikachu that causes lightning storms, mostly it's Zapdos that detects a lot of energy, and it'll come along and drain it before unleashing bolts of lighting and so on." Sianne said bitterly. "After my energy had been taken by that stupid thing, I was left sick and dazed. Everyone else suffered a bit too, obviously, but I was just so ill after being drained of some of my electrical energy."

"I never knew that." I said, "I just thought that it was Pikachu gathering that caused lightning storms. So when were you captured?"

"When I was about two years old. I'm about three now." Sianne said clearing her throat, "A bunch of men in electricity-proof gear came in and caught every Pikachu they saw. Most of my brothers and sisters escaped, but I was the first to be captured. I can remember the look of disgust on my mothers' face when I was taken."

"Hold up." I interrupted. "Your _mother_?"

"Sure. In the wild, pretty much only the strong survives. And since I was weak, I would probably have been picked off when I was small,. But since the only other Pokémon who lived in the Plant left us Pikachu alone, I survived. But the quality of life wasn't all that great, shall I say." I looked at her, wordlessly asking her to go on. "Anyway, a weakling like me living for so long, and getting bigger but not stronger was a bit of a disgrace to the family. My oldest sister, Daeler, was the strongest of us all, and she just loved beating me up. She was captured too, mind. She tried to attack the humans invading our home, but got taken doing so."

"Wow… so were they taking you away to put in the Safari Zone?"

"Yup." Sianne nodded. "We had an attack-breaker put in us, right there," she pointed to the scruff of her neck, "which prevented us from using any of our special attacks. We were then shipped over to Hoenn, put into a kind of quarantine for a while before being released into the Zone."

"That's so cruel!" I protested.

"Not for me. It was good because I wasn't so weak. Sure, I couldn't use my attacks, but nobody else could either. And there were no Pokémon in the Zone that could kill, so I was pretty much safe. Didn't stop me from being friendless though. It was so lonely. One would think that in a space over three square kilometers-"

"_What_?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. The Zone is way bigger than what you humans think it is. There's three parts to it: the entrance, the part where the trainers hunt, and then the wild place. It's basically where we sleep and so on."

"I never knew that. So what did you do in there?"

"Anyway, like I said, in that huge space, I couldn't find anyone who I could make friends with. I never wanted to be captured, since I thought that every trainer used their Pokémon as battling machines, and since I couldn't fight all that well, I didn't want to be taken by someone who would deem me useless and leave me in a computer somewhere …" she trailed off, realizing what she had said. "Sorry! I didn't mean that-"

"Relax." I said, patting her on the back. "It's fine.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. So I had no friends. Then a bunch of Rhyhorn moved in to the place where I normally slept…" she trailed off, noticing a change of expression on my face. "What is it?"

"A… a Rhydon killed my parents." I said slowly, as the words were painful to say.

"That's terrible! How did that happen?" Sianne asked, a look of horror on her face.

"I… I don't really know. One day they went out and never came back. They had apparently been attacked or trampled or something by one that was dangerous and had, until then, been kept restrained to prevent it from attacking people."

"That's…horrible…" Sianne said, her face still aghast.

"Don't worry too much about it; I can't remember them all that well. They left the house to me, and I wasn't taken away since I had a Pokémon. Only people without a parent, guardian or Pokémon can be taken away. So I continued to live there, and when I was nine I left to become a trainer."

"Who was your Pokémon?" Sianne asked curiously.

"A Pikachu, Sparky."

"So you have three Pikachu?"

"Yup."

"And you're thinking of evolving one of us?"

"Only if you want to. Hang on; you haven't finished your story! So these Rhyhorn moved into your place. What did you do?"

"Well what could I do? I didn't want them taking away my little home, but there were four of them and one of me. And I didn't want to be trampled by them. So what could I do but move to another place in the Zone? The thing was that pretty much everywhere had been taken. There was nowhere to sleep without invading the territory of some Pinsir, Girafarig or Dodrio, and even the trees were full of Natu and Heracross. And, trust me, you _don't_ want to disturb a sleeping Heracross." she added grimly, pointing to the chunk taken out of her right cheek.

"How long was that before I caught you?" I asked.

"I think it must have been a couple of months, about two or so. It was hell. There was nowhere to sleep but a small patch of grass right by the Entrance. I had to wake up at the crack of dawn and go to the back before any trainers came in. If they found a Pikachu fight by the entrance, they'd catch me for sure."

I considered this. "Hang on. If you didn't want to be captured, ten why did you let me catch you? I mean, you didn't know that I wasn't going to be horrible, did you?"

"Well…" Sianne began slowly, thinking deeply. "I'm not sure, really. It was a mixture of things. One of them was, obviously, that another day of being shoved around and another night of nowhere to sleep and another morning at which I had to wake up at the crack of dawn. It was just terrible… and being crammed together with those Pokémon capable of hurting you, with not a friend in the world…" she broke off, unable to continue. I went over and gave her a hug, one that I used to give Sparky, which involved picking her up from underneath the arms putting her on my shoulder and then wrapping my arms around her small form. Not as small as in naturally tiny like Sparky was, but small as in she had the capacity to be normal-sized, but she was so skinny, and her fur was totally unlike Sparky's; where his was sleek and soft to touch, Sianne's was coarse and matted. I hugged her close, thinking about her terrible past while she cried quietly on my shoulder.

After about five minutes, she twitched a bit. "You okay?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah." She sniffed. "Sorry about that. It's just that…"

"It's fine." I said, "Look, you don't have to tell me if it makes you feel bad."

"No, I'm better now." she assured me, wiping tears from her eyes. She climbed off me and sat back down on the bed. "Where was I? Oh yes, I was just fed up with living what seemed like a nightmare, so I decided that I would be caught, and no matter how bad the trainer was, it wouldn't be any worse than I was then, since nothing could be."

"And was that when you found me?"

"Oh no; I was hiding by the entrance all day. It wasn't normally a risk I'd take, but even though I wanted to be caught, I wanted to be caught by the nicest person I could find."

"I'm flattered. What made you choose me?"

"Well, it was on appearance mostly." She admitted. My mouth fell open.

"On _appearance? Me?_"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Look at me! I'm not fishing for complements, but I'm not exactly the best-looking person on the planet am I? I'm messy, untidy and my clothes nearly have holes in! Why on earth did you choose _me_?"

"Honestly. I didn't choose you on looks, the way humans chose their mates, I mean, you can tell a lot about a person from their looks. For example, it was obvious that your appearance wasn't the most important thing in your life. Correct?"

"Obviously"

"Also, the way you dressed was a giveaway. You dress far more sensibly than most other trainers, especially females, with their short skirts and so on, while you wear jeans and a t-shirt. Far more sensible, showing that you take practicality over looks."

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"There's more. I pieced together little bits about you from what I saw of you before deciding I wanted you to be my trainer."

"How? I wasn't exactly in there for a very long time."

"Well, for one thing, you weren't like other trainers who go around madly, catching everything in their path. For another, you didn't, like so many others did, just trample down the grass because it got in your way. You pushed it aside carefully. That's one of the best ways with which to endear yourself to any Pokémon; show respect to its territory, its home."

I thought about that. At the time I didn't realize I was even doing it. I guess I'd always held a certain respect for nature, but I didn't really think about it when I didn't trample flowers or put litter in my pocket, not on the floor.

"Then there was your patience in waiting for a certain Pokémon to appear. That was amazing, just sitting there, waiting."

"What was amazing about that?"

"Have you not _seen_ the way most trainers act in the Zone?"

"Erm…no?"

"The run around like wild things, either catching everything that moves or, if they're looking for a specific Pokémon, they'll try and flush our everything, and if they don't find a Pinsir or whatever, they'll move on. So yes. After seeing that you seemed like the trainer that I wanted to be with, I went up to you. You have no idea how nervous I was."

"Yeah, you looked a little shaky."

"A _little_? Every fiber of me was telling me to either run away or fry you!"

"Really? I thought it was natural for Pokémon to trust humans, at least a little."

"It's natural for normal Pokémon. But normal Pokémon have friends, and haven't had pasts like mine. If you had been treated like I had by your brother and sisters, would you not be scared by going up to someone who could make you their slave so easily? Especially if I was weak…" she broke off again, partly because it seemed painful for her to continue, but also because I think she thought she was giving herself too much self-pity. So she swallowed it.

"So, um…" I looked around to try and change the subject, since it was obviously hurting her, and my eyes fell on the Thunderstone glinting on the bedside cabinet. "So, what about evolving? Remember, you don't have to at all, I like you just as you are and there's one Thunderstone and two of you at any rate."

"Well..." she said slowly, "I don't think so. While the extra power might seem like a blessing to other Pokémon, I just wouldn't want or need the power to attack others. I have Thunder Wave for defense, as well as my speed. And I don't think I'd want a personality change either. If it made me forget everything that had ever happened to me, fine, but my Raichu mind would be far too complicated, and I think I might focus on it too much. Now I'm with a brilliant trainer and in time I'll leave my past behind. I'll be all right in time. But I don't want to evolve."

"That's fine." I said genuinely, "That's perfectly okay with me. And it's good you got all that off your chest as well; keeping emotions bottled up is never a good thing."

Sianne nodded and gave me another hug.

"Now, I'm going to check the ferry times downstairs," I said, putting her back down on the bed and taking out her ball. "So can I recall you?"

"Sure," she said, smiling, as I held up her Safari ball, into which she disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **I'm back.. and with more Sianne's Story than ever before! Huzzah! ...Or you could just go read the new chapter of AOTCS 'cause it's funnier. Whatever.

**Dedication: **To My three babies; Swablu, Marill and Pikachu. You guys are the cutest!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned the legal rights to Pokémon, I'd make Diamond and Pearl hurry up and come the pie out!

---------

**Sianne's Story**  
By Dannichu

* * *

Instead of going downstairs, I re-attached Sianne's Safari Ball, then took out Souriee's ball and send him out so I could ask him the same question. Luckily for me, Souriee's past was much easier to talk about.

"It was great! I was born in the Zone with my brothers and sisters, and we were great friends. One by one we were caught by trainers, but it wasn't _bad _to be taken away, since being taken by a trainer was like you humans leaving home, especially since some Pokémon regard it as an honor to be trained under a human. I was the last one of us all to be captured." He said proudly.

"And your brothers and sisters… could they swim?"

"Oh, no! I was special like that. My mom said I was at least. I used to watch the Golduck and Seaking swimming in the lake all the times, so I tried it. After the first few times of nearly drowning, I managed to swim a few feet. But I love swimming! It's so fun! You're, like, almost weightless!"

I was reminded strongly of Terra, before something else struck me.

"Hey Souriee?"

"Yeah?" he said, looking up.

"You know that Thunderstone I got yesterday?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well, I could use it to evolve you, and you could become a Raichu!"

"You mean, like the painting we say yesterday?"

"A lot like that, yes."

"Wow! So will I just be bigger, or will I be faster or better at swimming? We didn't talk much about it."

"Well, you'll change physically, and your body will probably better at swimming than it is now, with better muscles and so on. But I warn you – you'll change mentally too."

"Mentally? How?"

"Well, for a lot of Pokémon it makes them more serious about battling, some become more intelligent while some become aggressive. Some don't change at all. It really varies. But," I said extremely seriously, looking him right in the eyes, "once you change, you can _never_ change back."

"But it'll make me better at swimming?"

"Probably."

"And it's unlikely that my mind will change for the worse?"

I considered this. Did my definition of 'worse' mean 'less hyper'? I decided it didn't, since I loved Souriee's personality, but it was doubtful he would change much.

"Very unlikely."

"Well then," he said his eyes glazed over slightly, and I knew he was thinking about the Raichu picture. "I wouldn't mind. Have you asked Sianne about this?"

"Yeah, and she doesn't want to. So if you want me to give you the Thunderstone, just say so."

"Hmm… I think… erm… Yeah!"

"Really? Do you want to do it now?" I asked, a little shocked.

"Yeah!" he replied enthusiastically.

I was about to hand him the stone when all of a sudden, a sharp ringing sounded; making us both flinch. It took me a few seconds to realize what the noise was. "That's the fire alarm" Souriee said.

"Right." I replied. "I'll evolve you later. You'd best return for now."

I recalled the Pikachu into his ball and hastily grabbed all the other balls lying on my bedroom floor. I shoved them into my pack and then made my way downstairs and outside the Center, the alarm bell shattering my eardrums and people panicking.

"We apologize for the inconvenience." Nurse Joy said over a loudspeaker. "The fire alarm was set off by a Magmar placing their flame directly over the alarm. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that almost everything in the rooms are non-flammable, and you need not fear someone letting out their Flareon or Combusken in their room. However, it is appreciated if those trainers with Pokémon with an external flame could refrain from releasing them inside the Center, in order to prevent a repeat of this morning." She paused, catching her breath. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything or complain; the Pokémon Centers were such a welcome luxury after spending so long camping out and plus it was free. Not to mention that it was for everyone's safety that we were all evacuated. I waited until the stream of annoyed trainers had subsided befire making my way back up to my room. Once there, forgetting about Souriee's evolution, I sat on the bed and thought about everything Sianne had said.

After thinking for about an hour, I sat up, discovering that my neck was a tad achy from lying in an odd position for so long as well as finding tears running down my face. It was odd that I hadn't realized them before as there were to wet patches on the bedcover, as well as having the top of my ears and some of my hair damp, too. I quickly rubbed my eyes and twisted my neck around a bit, trying to get the circulation back into my head. I them looked at the six balls that were lying at the top of my open bag. I needed someone to talk to. The person who I always would talk to about this kind of thing, my friend Sarah, was currently in Johto with a broken leg after an accident in Oore. But that didn't mean I couldn't talk to one of my Pokémon about it; I regarded them just as much as my friends as any human. Species didn't matter; even language didn't prove a barrier between us.

Souriee was out, since I wasn't sure he would understand about Sianne's past, since he seemed to have had a great time in the Safari Zone. While Terra was great to talk to about other things, the last thing I needed telling was that is was insignificant in the wide universe or a long-winded philosophical rant. Luke, bless him, would do everything within his power to make her feel better, but that wouldn't help me resolve the problem of her forgetting her past, and no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to treat her the same afterwards. Russell… well, I wasn't sure about Russell. I rarely actually talked one-to-one to Russell, and hadn't shared any problems with him, so I wasn't all that sure about he would react. But, try as he might, he wasn't he most understanding Pokémon. Not that he didn't care; he could just sometimes be oblivious to other people's feelings and ignore them. I would never say his heart wasn't in the right place, but he could walk past an orphaned Cleffa by the roadside if he was looking for a Super Potion. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just wouldn't notice. That left Sarah. I had known Sarah the longest out of all my Hoenn Pokémon, and I knew she was a great friend who I could share things with. She also sometimes appeared to not notice other people's feelings, like Russell, but she would have to be really distracted by something to do so. I decided that Sarah would be the best one to talk to. She and Sianne seemed to get on all right; she and Souriee had gotten off to a bit of a bumpy start, but I think they resolved that on our walk to the beach. And even though I felt a little guilty about telling someone all about her past when she had only just told me, I needed help from someone to know what to do about it. So I decided Sarah would be the best one. I took her Pokéball in my hand and sent her out in a flash of white light. She appeared on the bed, which dipped slightly upon her weight suddenly appearing on it, causing her to lose her balance and fall over, bouncing a bit in a prone position. She sat up, shook her head and then looked at me. "Hi." she said embarrassedly. "I meant to do that."

I attempted to raise an eyebrow at her, but failed, making my expression look plain weird. We stared at each other for a few seconds before both cracking up laughing.

"It's not my fault I can't raise just one eyebrow!" I said between laughs.

"That's that you were doing? I thought you were doing a Nosepass impression!" Sarah hooted, falling over backwards again.

I pretended to hit her over the head. "Oh shut up." I grinned, one that she returned. I wondered why I didn't think of bringing out Sarah to begin with, I knew I could share pretty much anything with her. This brought me back to reality quickly, reminding me of why I called her out in the first place.

"Hey Sarah, I need to talk to you." I said, stopping laughing.

"Oh, okay." she said, picking herself up, walking over to the side of the bed and sitting on the edge, just like I was, only she swung her legs to and fro, since hers didn't touch the floor.

"It's about Sianne." I told her, not a trace of humor on my face any longer.

"What about her?" Sarah said, noticing the tone of my voice and giving me her full attention. I took a deep breath and told her everything Sianne had said to me, omitting nothing. I guess I should have felt guilty about telling Sianne's life story to someone straight after she had trusted the weight of her past with me, but the weight was incredible, and I needed to share it with someone. Once I had finished, Sarah's face looked traumatized.

"Oh pie… I'm so glad I came straight to you… I don't even know what it's like to be wild, but I'm sure glad I never was if poor Sianne's previous experience was like that!"

"It's terrible isn't it?"

"Yeah… but why did you tell me this? Did she say you could tell me?"

"Well… actually, I didn't ask her. But I don't want her to know that I told you, I just need your help in helping her in letting go of her past. I think that's the best thing for her."

"Yeah, you're right." Sarah said, nodding sympathetically, putting one of her fins on my back. "She already got rid of some of it by telling it to you."

"It seemed to take a lot out of her…" I said dubiously.

"It took quite a bit out of you, too. And I'm sure that were I to tell it to someone else, it would drain me a bit too. And I'm not nearly as connected to her as you, her trainer, are."

"I guess…"

"What did Souriee say?" Sarah asked suddenly.

"What?"

"You said you asked Sianne about evolving. Have you asked Souriee yet?"

"Yeah, I did, right after my conversation with Sianne."

"Well?" she asked, full of anticipation

"He wants to." I confirmed.

"That's great! You'll have a Raichu!"

"Well, I don't mind what he is, so long as he's happy."

"Well, obviously. Not many trainers would have respected my decision not to evolve, and could easily force a poor Pokémon like Pikachu to evolve against its will. It's a lot like the Scyther problem; there's less of them since people evolve them into Scizor straight away, many even before talking it over to them!"

"I never knew that; how'd you know?" I asked. Even though I made a point to treat my Pokémon as equals, I sometimes couldn't help treating them, not as inferior, but as younger. For example, I sometimes foolishly thought that Sarah didn't know anything I didn't, since she had been with me ever since she hatched from her egg.

"Me? Oh, Terra told me once."

"It's terrible." I said, disgust in my voice.

"I know. Poor Porygon, Gloom and Poliwhirl…"

"Imagine having to change without being given so much as a choice…"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** This story is kinda reminding me of the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'; the first half is made up entirely of a bunch of random stuff that has nothing to do with anything, and then when the actually interesting stuff comes, you're uninterested by all the boring bits. Still a good story though. Anyways, this chapter contains the interesting stuff! Stuff begins happening! And, yes, Danni has about five more emotional breakdowns.

**Dedication: **As part of a birthday prezzie for my great friend Gen/Geneevee/Eevie/whatever you feel like calling yourself Happy 16-ness!

**Disclaimer: **If Iowned Pokémon, I would also be at least partly responsible for the creation of Manene (that stupid pink Mr. Mime prevolution blob-cream-puff-thing) and would therefore be wasting too much time wondering what drugs I was under the influence of when I created him than to be writing fanficiton. Gah!

* * *

**Sianne's Story  
**Chapter 11

By Dannichu

I finally left the Pokémon Center at about midday, after spending so much time either talking to my Pokémon or thinking to myself. We were all walking around Lilycove, trying to find the ferry port so we could get to Mossdeep, but the general atmosphere felt a little different to how it had been yesterday. Sarah was slightly more melancholy than normal, which was odd since she was normally so full of vigor and life. I suspected I was the same, subconsciously, of course, as every so often I caught Russell or Luke giving me an odd look. We were all chatting, as we always did, but my mind wasn't entirely on the conversation. It felt really odd, and I didn't like it. I knew I had the power to get rid of it, but that would be betraying Sianne, so I stuck it out.

After about twenty minutes of wandering, not to mention three sets of wrong directions (Russell, Souriee and even Luke were adamant about not asking for some reason), we found the Ferry Port. I made a quick silent 'thank you' prayer about the ferry being sponsored by the League, meaning that transport was free. Even though we'd missed the one I had intended to catch because of my talking with the Pokémon, one left every hour on the hour, so we just hung around for ten minutes, waiting for the next one to arrive.

I discovered, to my disappointment and anger, that Pokémon weren't allowed outside their balls in any public areas during the crossing. The only place that they were allowed was in the cabins, but they cost money, and I didn't have any to speak of. I therefore protested bitterly, but I was given a firm 'no' because apparently one ship had sunk a few months previously due to an electric Pokémon shorting out the electricity supply, causing all the lights and navigation systems to go out and the ship to run aground. It was, so they told me, a miracle that everyone had got to shore safely. In the end I gave up, I had no desire to be kicked off the ferry, and recalled all of my Pokémon into their balls.

The ferry was nothing special, I had traveled on far fancier ones (the S.S. Anne; now _that_ was classy), but I could hardly complain about the price. I sat in a large uncomfortable chair with a table attached, put my head in my arms and tried to sleep. After a while I discovered that my mind was too restless to sleep or to even sit still for that matter. I stood up, slung my bag onto one shoulder, and went off to explore the ship.

It wasn't the biggest ship to ever sail the sea, but could carry many trainers, especially since their Pokémon weren't allowed out, and since it journeyed only a short distance it could make the trip many times in one day, reducing the number of people on it per crossing. I walked along past the cabins, wanting to peer into one, but it appeared that they were all occupied and the doors were closed. Then I saw one whose door was wide open. I peered inside and saw that it was equipped with a cabin bed and a table with two chairs. I looked up and down the walkway, checking to see if anyone was watching me. I saw nobody at all, nor any cameras, so I quickly slipped into the room and shut the door behind me.

I climbed up into the bed and lay down on it. It wasn't very comfy compared to the beds in the Pokémon Center, but heavenly in comparison to having a mere sleeping bag separating you from the hard, cold earth. I sat up and felt something in the pocket of my jeans. I took it out and discovered that it was the Thunderstone. I looked up, hoping too see a clock on the wall, and I saw there was. It read _13:26_. After a few seconds of my mind working out that here wasn't a thirteen o clock, that it was therefore obviously in twenty-four hour time, that it must be nearly half-past one and that I was really slow today, I took a Safari Ball from my Pokébelt. I hopped down onto the floor and took the Thunderstone in one hand and the ball in the other.

I thought about Souriee making his decision over whether or not to evolve. He seemed like he wanted to, but was a little nervous about it. I figured he'd want to do it quickly, so he didn't panic or something. So I reckoned the best thing would be to evolve him without everyone else watching, since he wasn't too familiar with them and would get nervous in front of them; I knew that I sure would. So maybe he would be better off doing it immediately by himself before he could change his mind.

Figuring that would be the best, I opened the ball, quickly handed him the shiny yellow stone and gave him an encouraging smile. He looked down at the stone in his paws and realized what it was. He suddenly began glowing with a white light, as Pokémon did during evolution. I watched in awe as Souriee grew slowly larger, his tail gradually thinning out and growing so much longer, his ears changing shape completely. Then I saw his face. I expected him to look excited or a little nervous, but it showed an expression of absolute horror. I looked questioningly at him, trying to figure out what could have triggered this response, but I then noticed something that made my face turn into one even more horrified than Souriee's.

Or, should I say, Sianne's.

I had evolved Sianne by mistake. My heart was in my mouth; I just could not _believe _what I had done.

I suddenly remembered that evolution could be stopped, so I automatically clapped my hands in front of Sianne's horrified face, as I had done to Sarah so many times to prevent her from evolving into a Swampert. Sianne jumped, not expecting me to do this, but the evolution process did not stop. I panicked; suddenly remembering that Stone evolvers could not be stopped from evolving once the process had begun, due to the… what _was_ it? _Why_ had I not paid attention in class?

"Danni!" came a horrified cry from Sianne. She looked so helpless, standing there in terror, growing more orange, her hips and feet growing dramatically. Then I remembered; the energy fields! Once a compatible Pokémon had entered the field, the process of mutation, or evolution, could not be stopped by surprising the Pokémon evolving.

Then I was struck by a sudden idea. Surely the process would stop if the stone was taken away! I reached out and grabbed the stone out of my poor Pikachu-Raichu's hands as she was still surrounded in the intense white light. The light stopped abruptly. I looked at her intensely, hoping against hope that she would begin to change back. _'Oh please,_' I thought, _'please don't let me cause any more pain to Sianne than what's already happened to her…'_

But Sianne didn't change. I looked at her, my eyes brimming with tears. She showed no emotion. Suddenly, she dropped to the ground, unconscious. I wiped my eyes and did a few checks on her. She was still breathing all right but was fainted though exhaustion and emotion, and I had no revives. I recalled her into her Pokéball, tears streaming down my cheeks. I looked down at the yellow stone in my hand, the thing that had caused me to betray my Pokémon, my friend. It was its stupid fault that she would never be the same again, that I had let her down. I hurled the Thunderstone with all my strength at the wall opposite me, where it shattered into thousands of fragments.

I then buried my head in my hands and wept my heart out.

I must have fallen asleep somewhere along the line, as I was woken up by a loud horn sound, indicating the end of the journey. I suddenly remembered what happened during the crossing, and my heart migrated to somewhere around my ankles, while every bit of water in my body seemed to come to my eyes, as waterfalls of tears began streaming down my face. I attempted to pull myself together, wiping tears out of my eyes, but it didn't work, so I grabbed my bag, made sure all my Pokémon were attached to my belt and sneaked out of the cabin before exiting the ship, hoping to be an inconspicuous as possible, keeping my head low so as not to have concerned people ask me if I was all right.

I had never felt less 'all right' in my life.

I ran the mile-and-a-half to the Pokémon center, my tears never ceasing their stampede down my face, my mind focused only on Sianne's face as she evolved, that look of horror. I tripped over a rock in the middle of the dusty road and cut my hand, but I ignored it and carried on running. Once I got to the Pokémon Center, I wiped my eyes and tried to regain some shadow of composure and I booked a small room. I ran up to it, tried three times to insert the key while being unable to see anything through my bleary eyes before wiping them and unlocking the door as fast as I could. I shut the door behind me and flopped facedown onto the bed. And cried.

This time I don't remember being asleep; I just sobbed for hours on end, not even wanting to cease, not wanting to face up to reality. The reality that I had betrayed and hurt one of my friends. A friend that had placed her trust in me. And I had let her down so much. After I was sure that I had cried out the remnants of my heart, I took Sianne's Safari ball in my hands. I took it downstairs, leaving the others up in my locked room, and handed it over to the Nurse's assistant, a Chansey. The usual checks were taken; she was viewed from inside her ball, then replenished with a healer machine, which would have automatically brought her back to health due to its effects on a Pokémon cells. While they are normally given food and rest, healers have to be used after evolution as Pokémon are never released from their balls by the Center staff, as some Pokémon become violent after evolution, and it is the trainer's responsibility to care for the aftereffects of the change, not the nurse's. It would usually have fascinated me, trainers are not usually allowed to watch, but I had other things on my mind. After muttering a robotic 'thanks' to the nurse, I took Sianne back upstairs.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Here it is… Sianne's story! Whee! It only took about nine chapters… ¬.¬ Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far; you've made my day!

**Dedication: **To Evie for my amazing birthday present! . And everyone else who gave me a prezzie as well, actually. I love you guys :)

**Disclaimer:** If you're Satoshi Tajiri (and if you're not, why are you bothering to read this, you can't sue) will you marry me? I have Pikachu slippers…

* * *

Once I had shut to door, I bit my lower lip to prevent me from crying yet again and I sent out Sianne, now a Raichu, forever a Raichu, onto the floor. I looked into her eyes, which always seemed to betray her emotions. But I saw nothing. No sense of hatred, fear, anger, revenge, betrayal. There was nothing.

"Sianne?" I ventured, swallowing a huge lump in my throat, "Are you okay?"

I was so surprised to see a huge grin appear on her face, lighting up her whole face.

"I'm so sorry!" I wailed, breaking into tears, "It was an accident… I'm so sorry, Sianne!"

Sianne just grinned more widely, before saying something, but it passed over my head completely. I was not too good at understanding Raichu-tongue. Sure it was similar to Pikachu language, and I could understand every word

"Sianne… are you all right?" I asked, just before my Raichu shouted something which was unmistakably "Wheee!" and began running around the room, shouting.

"S-Sianne?" I asked, a little worried. Surely she wasn't _happy_ about the evolution, was she?

"Yahoo!" she yelled, leaping onto my bed and bouncing a few times before jumping high into the air, aided greatly by her greatly improved leg muscles, and grabbing onto the light fixture, swinging back and forth. I stared.

"Sianne? Are you all right?" I asked, trying to get her attention. She stopped swinging and leaped down to look at me. She brought her face uncomfortably close to mine, our noses almost touching. After staring at me for a few seconds, she yelled something loudly in my face, which made me jump in surprise. She then fell about in hysterics.

I was worried; Sianne had never been like this before evolution. I had evolved only a handful of Pokémon, and none of them had ever become more hyper; Genesis the Chikorita had positively mellowed after becoming a Bayleef. I picked her up under the arms and sat her on my lap. "Sianne?" I asked. The Raichu turned to look at me, a crazed expression still on her face.

"Are you all right?" I said slowly. Sianne grinned widely, giving me a full display of her teeth, before she stuck her tongue out at me. She then blew a raspberry, showering me with her saliva. After wiping my face, I tried again. "Sianne, can you understand me?"

She nodded vigorously, still beaming.

"I'm really sorry you… I evolved you…" I said slowly, feeling bad. Sianne sensed I wasn't feeling great, so she gave me a tight hug, one that nearly crushed my ribcage.

"How does being a Raichu feel?" I asked. She responded by screeching something that sounded a lot like "Über!", but I couldn't be sure. I was a tad worried, knowing that her personality must have changed dramatically during the evolution process. Nevertheless, I still wanted her to know I was sorry for evolving her without her consent, even if she was happy with the changes.

"D'you want to see the others?" I asked, trying to talk to her. She nodded vigorously. I removed the five other balls from my belt and released the Pokémon inside. Once they had stretched their legs and blinked a bit, they noticed Sianne, who was bounding around on the bed, looking ecstatic.

"Who's that?" Souriee asked, pointing at Sianne. Sarah and Russell seemed to be wondering the same thing, but judging from the expressions on Terra and Luke's faces, they had already guessed who it was.

"Danni… is that…?" Terra asked slowly. She didn't need to finish her sentence, as I nodded slowly.

"Sianne?" Sarah repeated. "Woah… so you evolved her?"

"Well… yes." I said, trying not show any sign of guilt. Souriee, however, spoke before I could say anything. "But… I thought that you said Sianne didn't want to evolve!"

All eyes, save for Sianne's, were on me. I felt myself beginning to sweat, my heartbeat increasing and adrenaline gushing through my blood. I kept telling myself to relax, that these were my friends, but my stupid body wouldn't listen.

"I…I…" I began stupidly, trying to think of a way to say it. "She didn't. I… I accidentally gave her the stone instead of you!" my voice went higher and higher during the sentence, ending with my voce being no more than a squeak at the end.

"What does Sianne think of this?" Sarah asked, looking at the newly-evolved Raichu, who was still bouncing on the bed.

"Well," I said honestly, "I can't understand much of what she says. She seems to be pretty happy, though."

"Sianne?" Souriee asked, "How did it feel to evolve?"

Sianne stared at the Pikachu before grinning, leaping off the bed and shaking his hand energetically. "Groovy!" she exclaimed.

"I dunno what happened to her," Souriee laughed as Sianne hugged him, "But I approve of the changes!"

"That's odd…" Sarah commented, "Most Pokémon grow less hyperactive when they evolve."  
"I thought that was weird too." I agreed, "And Sianne wasn't exactly overexcited to start with, was she?"

Terra, meanwhile, looked deep in thought. "Danni," she asked slowly, "once you found out that it was Sianne, not Souriee… did you… try and stop her evolving?"

"Erm… well, of course I did. I tried clapping, like I do when you try and evolve, but it didn't work." I said, feeling horrendously guilty.

"It wouldn't." Russell said, scratching his ear, "Once the elemental force-field starts working, the Pokémon's cells won't stop rearranging until the evolution is finished. Or that's what I heard."

"That's right." Sarah said, "You can't reverse a stone evolution. Or a trade one."

Terra still looked pensive. "But… did you do anything that might have caused her to… erm… for the evolution to go wrong?"

"Wrong?"

"Well… evolution causes personality changes. Sometimes, an upset evolution can cause it to go wrong, like being stuck halfway between two evolution stages, or to cause amnesia or something."

"Are you saying that Sianne's brain is messed up?" Luke asked, looking horrified.

"No!" Terra said quickly, not wanting to suggest something like that. Then she realized that she did. "Well… yes, actually. I mean, and I'm not accusing you, Danni, but maybe something happened that caused her to go a bit hyper?"

"Erm…" I swear my heart went apoplectic just then, I could feel it hammering away inside my ribcage. "Well… I… I kind of took the stone away before she completely evolved, but that wouldn't have caused it, right?"

One look at the faces of Pokémon in front of me told me otherwise.

"You mean, you _took away_ the stone?" Souriee asked, looking scared. "_Before_ she had finished?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh, Danni. Oh no…" Terra moaned. "Taking away the stone is the last thing you want to be doing… it can cause mid-evolution halts!"

"A what?" I asked, my heart in my mouth.

"A mid-evolution halt is when a Pokémon is past a certain stage at evolution and is made to stop. With normal evolvers, they evolve when mature enough, you can't stop them, nor with traders, but with stone and item-traders, if you take away the stone or item, it can do horrible things, from making them deformed to making their heart stop!"  
"Yeah." said Russell, nodding his head sullenly, "That's the point in maturity evolution when clapping doesn't work anymore. It's called the 'point of no return', and once a Pokémon goes past that stage, you can't go back."

All the Pokémon's eyes were on me, except for Sianne's, as she was bounding around the room, throwing things about. My mind was racing, filled with anger and pain, anger with myself for being so stupid, anger for the stupid Museum guy for giving me the stupid stone, and even anger at my Pokémon for knowing so much and not telling me. I picked up their Pokéballs and recalled them, unable to think coherently any longer. I recalled Terra and Luke first, then Souriee and Russell. I went to recall Sarah, but she hit the ball out of my hand. She looked angry. Leaping onto the bed, which I was now sitting down on, she looked me straight in the eye.

"Look." She said, glaring at me, as if daring me to cry, "I know you want to go ahead, drown in misery, hate yourself and even go and release all of us because you're such a terrible trainer who can't even look after her Pokémon." I stared back at her. How on earth was she reading my mind?

"But," Sarah continued, "How will that help anything? What had been done to Sianne can't be changed, and no amount of you moping around and telling yourself what a waste of space you are is going to get the old Sianne back."

She spoke harshly, each word hurting me more, but I knew, deep down, that a good talking-to was just what I needed. And everything Sarah was saying was making sense to me.

"But I-" I began, but the Marshtomp cut across me.

"Look, the best thing you can do right now is to look at things outside the box you've built yourself into over the last few weeks. Then you'll be able to see things much more clearly. You might think you're doing the best thing, keeping yourself bottled up, but you're not kidding anyone. Think about everything Sianne told you about her past. About her 'family'. Her experiences with other Pokémon at the Safari. Everything. You knew how sad she was, how desperate she was; she even went so far as to be caught by a human to get away from it. She was sad, Danni. Desperate. Now look at her."

She pointed across the room to where Sianne was bouncing on and off her tail, squealing with delight.

"Do you think she's happier now?"

"Yes, but-"

"Think about it. All memory of her previous life has been forgotten. She gets a new start, this time with a group of friends, who love her. Just like we all love you. None of us hate you for doing this to Sianne. Everybody makes mistakes."

"But what I did was so-"

"Even though you didn't tell the others what Sianne's life was like before you caught her, it was obvious. She was a bag of bones, her fur tattered and scraggly from malnutrition and lack of care. She had a permanent sadness hanging around her, and was unable to look anyone directly in the eye. They might not have known that she had never had a happy moment in her life, but they're not blind."

I wanted to cry, but Sarah was still glaring at me. Sianne, who was at the moment standing on top of a large shelf unit, bounced off and into the swivel chair set at the desk in the room. She spun around in it, screaming ecstatically. Looking at Sianne and thinking about everything Sianne said suddenly made me feel a bit better.

A little later, I let Luke, Souriee and the others out and apologized to them for recalling them so rudely. Sarah told them everything about Sianne; about her past and how the effects of her evolutions weren't really all that bad. I sat on the bed and watched. Once she had finished, she added to me, "We're here for you. We'll always be here for you." Everyone else nodded in agreement. I grabbed Sarah in a tight hug and she hugged me back. The tears finally spilled over, but neither of us cared. The others came over and joined in the hug as well, everyone looking so happy. Then Sianne saw us and wandered over, joining in the hug as well and nearly breaking our ribs.

As I sat on the Pokémon Center bed, hugging my friends, feeling the love and trust we had for each other, I suddenly sensed a new, warm feeling.

I had told myself that I had no family and didn't want to pretend I did.

I realized then that I didn't need to pretend.

I had family. Sure we didn't share blood or genes; we weren't even the same species, but the bond I felt with my Pokémon, and not just Terra, Sarah, Souriee and the others, but the emotional ties I still had to Sparky, Hlìn and all the other Pokémon still in a pseudo-quarantine back in Johto were stronger than anything I had ever felt with my real parents. My Pokémon genuinely cared about me, and I loved them back.

Life is good.

* * *

That's technically the end, so yay! But I can't stant to have it end of such an unbearablycheesy note, so look out for the epilogue at some point. I really hope you liked this, and a huge thanks again to everyone who has reveiwed!


End file.
